“Because you have me.”
The more he said it, the more I wanted it to be true.
“I’ve never actually been treated for the RA, but a doctor diagnosed me once. A long time ago.” I peeked up to see his reaction.
He nodded. “Go on, spill that hot tea.”
“When I was young, I never had the same amount of energy the other kids had. When we would play, someone would bump me, and it hurt so much I’d cry.”
A look came over his face. You know.Thelook. I figured I’d just go ahead and save him the trouble of demanding. “No, I won’t give you a list of names. They were kids, and they weren’t even being rough.”
“They’re grown-ups now,” he deadpanned.
I put my hand over his mouth and kept talking. Really, it was the only way I was going to get this out.
“Anyway, I got teased a lot.Crybaby. Whiner. Weakling. Sob goblin,”I listed. “I was also pretty clumsy and had a hard time opening things everyone thought were easy. Sometimes my hands and fingers would be red and feel warm to the touch. And I’ve always been small, so it made me an easy target.”
“You were bullied?”
“Oh yeah.” I confirmed.
“Didn’t your parents do anything?” he demanded. Then, “This is why I don’t have kids. Everyone would be dead.”
“You can’t kill everyone, Hiro.”
The temperature in the room dropped. “Actually, I can.”
I glanced up. “Surely, even the government has rules.”
“What the government doesn’t know won’t hurt them.”
I shook my head.
“Hey.” He caught my chin, pulling my face up. “How come you act like me being a sanctioned operative is no big deal?”
I arched an eyebrow. “You mean why don’t I care myboyfriend is a hitman?”
Another test.Let’s see how he reacts to the B-word.
Pursing his lips, he regarded me with an air of suspicion. After a moment, he said, “Yeah. Why don’t you care your boyfriend is a killer?”
Not only did he return the B-word, but he upped the ante by calling himself a killer.
Who was testing whom here?
“Because,” I said, debating on how honest I wanted to be, “I’ve been afraid my entire life. It makes me feel safe to stand beside someone everyone else fears.”
“You should fear me too.”
“I fell in love with you instead.” Guess I was going all in with the honesty.
His eyes darkened. “I’ve killed over forty men.”
“How many have you saved?”
He paused. “The blood on my hands says it doesn’t matter.”
“You saved me. More than once.”
