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“If only it were that simple.”
“It is,” I assured her. “Whatever’s happening in your life, it’s not something that can scare me away.”
“But you expect your life to scare me away?”
I didn’t know anyone who wouldn’t be intimidated and terrified of my world. Especially Johnny. She should be fucking terrified of him.
“Yes. Elle,” I said when she started turning from my arms.
“My life would ruin you,” she said, her jaw clenched. She placed her hand on my chest, her eyes pleading. “Don’t you feel it? We’re fighting against something unstoppable. We’re not supposed to be together.”
My expression darkened, but my hold on her tightened. “Is that right?”
“You and I together? We’re devastation.”
“Since when?” I demanded, my voice rough. I stepped forward, leading her back until she was pressed against my car again. Lifting one of my hands to secure it in her hair, I pulled her as close as we could get in that moment. “Because the other night—fuck, every minute since I first kissed you—I could’ve sworn we were the best goddamn thing I would ever have in my life. And before that first day you walked into Brooks Street, I was positive I would never have good in my life again.”
“You don’t understand.” A sound like a pained cry ripped from her throat, her chin wavering as she placed her fingers over my lips to prevent me from arguing. “And I wish there was a way you never would,” she whispered after a few moments. “God is playing a cruel trick by letting me fall in love with you when I can’t—”
I slammed my mouth down onto hers, swallowing her gasp of surprise. “Don’t finish that thought,” I begged, nipping at her lips before devouring them again.
I leaned her back against the hood of my car, following her down, and groaning into her mouth when she locked her legs around my waist. Her hands slid through my hair, gripping and pulling as I made a trail of open-mouthed kisses and teasing bites across her jaw and down her neck.
“Tell me.”
Her throat vibrated against my lips with her laugh. “The one thing of everything I said that you heard—”
“Tell me,” I repeated.
She lifted her head off the hood, pulling at my hair so she could look into my eyes. “I love you.”
True.
And it made me want to beg her to say it every day for the rest of our lives.
Because I was pretty damn sure I fell in love with this girl the first time she looked at me. But I was terrified that the moment I voiced those words, someone would rip her from my arms.
“I was made to love you. I just found you in the wrong life.”
“Only one life, Elle,” I murmured, shaking my head. I dipped my chin to place a series of soft kisses across her chest then met her stare again. “I think I found you at just the right time. Your life . . . whatever it is, we can handle it.”
Her mouth opened, the protest clear in her eyes.
“Truth or dare,” I said before she could speak.
Her eyes were cautious as she searched my face. “Dare.”
“Lie to me . . . ruin me. Just let yourself love me.”
She nodded without hesitation. “I told you, it’s cruel. Because I’ll love you wholeheartedly until the very end.”
There was pain behind her words. And for the first time, a hint of unease crept down my spine as her fears became mine. And I wondered what was waiting for us when the lying stopped—what was waiting for us at the very end.
“What’s this?” I asked that afternoon, trailing the tips of my fingers across a tattoo on Dare’s bicep.
It was four horizontal lines, just like the ones on his back. But the rest of the symbol was missing.
He pushed up so he was hovering over me and glanced down at it for a few seconds. “It’s who I am,” he finally said.
