Page 60 of A Sweet Destruction

“Pain meds.”

“Can you please just explain?” Soren cut in. “He looks no less likely to end my life.”

“I would really appreciate if he didn’t!” Bellamy called over, tending to Clover a few yards away. Great, we really had garnered an audience.

“I’m leaving,” Soren said, turning towards his Soul Mate. “Explain.”

Before I knew it, Ford was crowding me again.

“Please step back,” I said, hating how weak my voice sounded. It was hard to sound strong when most of my energy was going towards convincing the Bond that no, I shouldn’t jump on top of Ford and bury my nose in his neck even though yes, he does smell very nice.

Ford halted, then retreated a step, his expression staying firmly murderous, though now I was pretty sure that rage was directed inward.

It was that realization that pushed me to explain. “Sometimes,” a swallow for strength, “when the Bond is having one of its moments,” one more pause, “it will make it painful for someone else to touch you.”

“Someone else?” Ford parroted.

Goodness. My face felt hot. “Someone other than…”

“Me.”

My head weighed a thousand pounds as I nodded in response.

“Esme.” Ford dragged his hands down his face, his voice weary. Is he tired? Tell him to sleep. “You need to tell me these things.”

Well, I did not appreciate that little lecture. “I’m not going to be your teacher. I had to figure this out myself, so do you.”

I hauled myself onto Sky’s back in a flash, needing some distance.

Ford stayed rooted to the spot, only moving to dodge my leg so it didn’t smack him in the face. Once I was settled on the saddle, he got even closer, wrapping his hand around my calf.

“No,” he said plainly.

I blinked. Surely I’d heard him wrong. “Excuse me?”

“No,” he repeated. “That’s not what’s going to happen.” I tried to pull away, to put some distance between us. I mean, it was really ridiculous that he could stand next to a towering beast of an animal and still have a head and some impressive chest showing. “The only way this is going to work without killing each other, someone else, or ourselves is if you tell me what you need.”

Something happened to his tone at the end, turning rough and commanding. As if the Bond had taken over his voice for its own use.

It was so forceful, the only thing I could bring myself to do was nod. That, and the reminder that he was right. I’d been close to all three options at various points.

Ford shook his head. “Verbal yes, please.”

The part of myself that prioritized self preservation figured it would not be appreciated if I pointed out that he’d never said please to me before. “Yes.”

A small smile played at the corner of his lips. “A little more feeling this time.”

Well, shit if I was going to have a human lie detector next to me all the time now, I was in for far more embarrassment than admitting that I didn’t like it when other people touched me.

“Look. I’ll try okay? That’s the best I can promise right now. I’ve trained myself to handle it differently, so I might forget.”

Now it was Ford’s turn to look a little harrowed. “Okay,” he said, looking at me for a long moment before slowly turning away.

That wouldn’t do. I could deal with every other iteration of our relationship, but I couldn’t deal with awkwardness.

Before he made it too far away, I sputtered out, “It can have odd requests sometimes, but others are basic. So just you know, tell me, if there’s something that—”

“You still have my flannel in your saddle bag?”