“They won’t fire me.”
I opened my mouth, closed it, then tried again. “I could lose my scholarship.”
“Like I’d let that happen.”
“You make it sound so easy.” I met his eyes and lasted about a second before I looked away. “As if none of this is actually complicated.”
Henry didn’t react right away. He just watched me, head angled slightly. “It didn’t used to be. It is now.”
Oh.
God.
I dropped my gaze, pushing off the desk before I could sit there and make it worse, the soles of my shoes hitting the floor a little harder than necessary. One of the books had slid under the desk, spine bent awkwardly where it had landed, and I crouched to grab it, more focused on that than anything else.
Of course it hadn’t been easy for him.
I knew that. I’d known that before I ever met him.
Dragging the book, I straightened it automatically, fingers smoothing along the cover like that might take back my word vomit.
“I’m sorry,” I said, refusing to look up, because I wasn’t sure I deserved to. “That was unfair.”
I picked up another book, dusting my thumb along the spine even though it didn’t need it. It was just to have something to focus on that wasn’t the sudden, uncomfortable guilt settling in my chest.
“You don’t have it easy. I know you don’t. I just—” I hesitated, pressing my thumb into the edge of the top book. “I start talking, and it all comes out wrong. You watched people die, survived a fucking fire, only to lose both your parents a few years later.”
And here I was complaining about scholarships and hypotheticals andwhat ifsthose problems were even in the same category.
“I’m not trying to make this about me,” I added, finally glancing up at him. “I just… don’t know how to not think ten steps ahead when something actually matters. I live in a constant state of panic, worried I’m going to lose things that are important to me, and you have become… themostimportant thing.”
One second, I was crouched on the floor, and the next, his hands were under my arms, hauling me up before I could protest.
“Henr—”
“Hush.”
He captured my lips in a slow kiss, humming soothingly against my mouth, cutting through all the noise.
My brain stalled out.
Thank God.
“Archibald.” His palm was warm where it settled against the nape of my neck, forehead touching mine now. “Stop.”
“I’m just—” I swallowed, the words I’d been building tripping over themselves again. “I’m being selfish.”
“The fuck you are.”
“But—”
“No,” he growled, fingers tightening around my neck as he kept my gaze exactly where he wanted it. “You’re reacting to something that matters to you. That isn’t selfish.”
“It is when I’m standing here comparing my problems to—” I cut myself off, jaw tightening. “Everything you’ve been through.”
“I dealt with what I went through, baby. A long time ago.”
That didn’t feel entirely true.
