“Hey, have some faith in me, buddy.” I force a smile, ruffling his hair.
I separate his bags from the pile and pass them over. “Go play while I beg Nevaeh for forgiveness. And learn from my mistakes. Never hurt the women you love.”
When he leans in, I don’t hesitate to plant a big kiss on his forehead. My heart melts at his giggle as he skips away.
Since the guard abandoned his post for chicken nuggets, I slipped through the door.
The click behind me sounds like a million miles away, drowned by the thunder in my chest when my eyes finally findher.
After two torturous weeks without my sweetheart, I thought seeing her would mend my broken heart, but the sight shatters me all over again.
Nevaeh stands in the kitchen, dead on her feet. Her cheeks are flushed and hollow, her cheekbones cutting sharper than I remember. She looks thinner, and the sight takes me back to that night in the woods. Alone, injured, barely clinging to life.
Her hair hangs down her back in a knotted, wet mess fresh from the shower. Nevaeh hates brushing her waves and always leaves the task to me.
I’ll braid her hair and tackle those tangles every day for the rest of my life if she gives me one more chance.
My feet move toward her on instinct, but I freeze themoment her eyes fix on me, daring to get closer. Her frown deepens when she takes in my own ragged appearance, seeing firsthand how our time apart hasruinedme.
Her gaze flicks to the mountain of snacks and the bouquet clutched in my arms. Her eyes soften, and for a heartbeat, hope rises inside me, but then she blinks as if erasing the image from her mind and turns her back to me.
“I’ll pack his bag. You can take him back in half an hour.”
My heart cracks open. She doesn’t want to come back.
For Fate’s sake, what else did I expect after I broke her heart?
“I’m here for both of you,” I whisper, afraid of saying the wrong thing.
The rest of my words get stuck in my throat when I notice the dark purple shadows under her eyes, her sluggish movements, the rigid set of her shoulders. It’s like watching the version of her before she felt safe with me.
I hate myself for doing this to her. For making her retreat into that old armor. For hurting her to the point that she’s willing to let August go for his safety, but won’t even consider coming back with me.
I’m a grade-A dumbass.
“I screwed up.”
The bowl slips from her hands and crashes into the sink, the sound dull against the weight of my confession.
“That day… I broke your trust. I made you feel unwanted, like you meant nothing to me. But I can’t leave without telling you the truth, Nevaeh. You probably won’t believe a word out of my mouth, but you deserve to know the whole story.”
I set the bags and flowers on the sofa, then carefully placed the fries on top. If I drop them in the middle of my apology, she’ll definitely kick me out for good.
Nevaeh leans against the counter, her head bowed like she’s weighing whether I deserve her time.
I take small steps and with every word, I look for signs that she wants me to stay where I am. “The night of August’s birthday, you threw yourself in frontof danger without a thought. For us. And it… It scared me.”
Another step, another truth.
“I’ve seen you hurt too many times. I’ve held you through the pain, and I know you’d do it again… sacrifice yourself if it meant keeping us safe. But it made me even more terrified of losing you, Nevaeh. A life without you… I won’t survive it, sweetheart. I’m nothing without you.”
The carefully rehearsed apology I planned went out the window the second I laid eyes on my beautiful girl. My brain is useless now, so I’m leading with my heart.
“Remember that nurse you never liked? And Conquer’s ex-Warriorhead? They were part of this massive coup. A lot of high-ranking warriors and elders were involved, too. They wanted to k—” my voice cracks, “they wanted you out of the way. I found out the night you were hurt.”
Nevaeh looks at me for the first time since I arrived. The urge to crush her into my arms and never let her leave is unbearable, but the fire in her gaze sobers me.
I probably shouldn’t have brought up the ex-Warriorhead or the nurse. I can practically see her plotting ways to “talk” to them.
