I spread my hands wide. “So what? They happen. It’s over now. You can leave.”
He stalks toward me, a tick forming along his jaw and a determined glint in his eyes.
I stumble back, but he follows, closing the distance between us despite my retreating steps. Gabriel doesn’t stop until he backs me up against my dresser, leaving me nowhere to run as he cages me in, placing his hands either side of the dresser behind me.
My heart pounds in my chest, but not from panic. I cling to the anger swirling inside of me, but even it begins to recedewhen Gabriel’s dark brown gaze pierces mine, and he says, “Someone hurt you.” The way he says it, like it hurts him just knowing, makes my stomach flip inside out.
I swallow hard. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.” My bottom lip trembles. He doesn’t miss the motion and his eyes darken.
“Who hurt you, Cecilia?”
“No one.”
“You’re a liar.”
“So what?” There’s no point denying it. But it doesn’t mean he deserves an explanation. This is my life. My trauma. Mine. I don’t need to share that shit. Not with him. Not with anyone.
Gabriel cups the side of my face, his thumb stroking my cheek in a deceptively gentle caress. “Why are you fighting me? I want to help.”
I shove against his chest, but pushing Gabriel is like trying to move a boulder. He barely shifts.
“I don’t need your help.” Angry, unshed tears fill my eyes. What I don’t say aloud is that hecan’thelp. Not really. I asked for help before and look at where it got me.
“You need to let it out.”
I shake my head. No. If I do that, I’ll never get it back inside again. I wouldn’t be able to function. To go to classes. To be normal, or at least as normal as I am now. “Why won’t you leave me alone?”
“Because you’re hurting.” He draws me close, pressing his lips to my temple. His touch is tender and for a moment, I find comfort in him when I know I shouldn’t. Gabriel isn’t someone I can afford to lean on.
I fist the material of his shirt between my fingers, but this time, I don’t shove him away. I cling to him, dipping forward until my head presses beneath the hollow of his throat. He restshis chin on the crown of my head, his hands slipping to settle low on my hips.
“I’m fine.” I force the words through gritted teeth.
His chin brushes along the top of my head, moving from left to right. “No. You’re not.”
“You can’t know that.”
He sighs. “Yeah. I can.”
“How?” I demand, pulling back to gaze up at him.
His eyes land on mine and in them, I see my own feelings reflected back at me. Hurt. Anger. Pain. It sinks vicious claws into me.
“I see the hurt inside of you and it reminds me of my own. I can’t walk away from that.”
I suck in a breath and close my eyes.
“I’m tired of hurting.”
Gabriel wraps his hands around my nape and presses me against his chest. The heavy drum of his heart beats against my ear and I fist my hands in his shirt, but I don’t push him away.
“Me, too, baby. Me, too.”
His words from before come back to me. About his brother. How he killed himself. How it tore his family apart. He’s broken, too. Did anyone try to fix him the way he’s trying to fix me? Is that why he’s here? Because he wishes someone tried to put him back together?
My shoulders shake and I sniff as I struggle to bottle up my feelings. “Why do you care so much?” I whisper the words, almost afraid of his answer.
He’s quiet for so long I wonder if he heard me, until he squeezes me tighter and says, “Maybe we can be broken together? It might make the pain hurt a little less.”
