“Shut up. I’m talking.”
His mouth closed, and surprise flickered across his face, followed by the ghost of amusement. Folding his arms across his chest, he waited.
She took a breath. Her ribs ached. Fuck, everything ached, but this ached worse than all the bruises.
“I’m not sorry I left,” she said. “You lied to me. You manipulated me from the first second we met. You picked me because you thought I was weak, and you used that. I had every right to walk away.”
He didn’t argue. His jaw tightened, but he stayed silent.
“What I am sorry for,” she carried on, “is how I left. Yeah, I ran. I took the easy way out instead of standing there and fighting you on it. And all the while I told myself I was protecting myself, but that’s not—” She looked away. “But that’s not who I am. I don’t quit. I’ve spent my whole life refusing to quit.”
He stepped closer. The heat radiating off his massive body beat against her skin.
“You had every reason to run.”
Her gaze snapped back to his.
“I had every reason to stay and make you explain yourself.” Her voice cracked. She hated it cracked. “I came back because the plan was mine and I wasn’t letting you take credit for my work. That’s what I told myself on the way. That’s the lie that got me through the first few hours.”
Raaze’s expression shifted. Careful. Waiting. “And the hours after that?”
She held up her hand to shush him. If she didn’t get this out in one go, she never would.
“The truth is I came back because I couldn’t leave you to die.” The words came out raw. “I couldn’t live with that. Even hating you, I couldn’t?—”
She stopped. Her throat was too tight to continue.
He grabbed her hand, pressing it to the center of his chest, right over his heart.
“My turn,” he said, his voice a low rasp.
She looked up at him. The bruises on his face were darker now, purple around the edges. The cut below his eye had been sealed with medical adhesive, but it would scar. He looked as if he’d been through a war.
“I picked you on that landing pad because I thought you were weak,” he said. “Isolated, and you looked like you were struggling. Classic easy mark.” He shrugged. “And I was an idiot who didn’t know the first thing about human females. I was wrong about you on every count, from the very first second.”
“Raaze—”
“I’m not finished.” His voice was rough. “I’ve been falling for you since before I understood what was happening. Every time you made me feel something, I shoved it down. Told myself it was a rookie mistake. Feeling something for the mark…” He looked away, his laugh a bitter snort. “That’s how you lose.” He exhaled. “And then you walked away, and I realized it wasn’t a mistake. You weren’t a mistake. Us… was the only real thing I’d had in my entire life.”
Her chest hurt. Not the bruises but something deeper, like an ache deep down in her soul.
“I love you,” he murmured. “And I’ll love you until the day I stop drawing breath.”
Her breath caught in her throat. There was no charming smile, just an open and honest expression. Just the words laid out before her like an offering. “I don’t know if that’s enough to fix what I broke. But it’s true.”
She looked at him… really looked. At the scars over his chest that she’d traced with her fingers and the face she’d memorized without meaning to.
At the male who’d lied to her, used her, and then thrown himself into a warball match he couldn’t win even without backup, knowing they could kill him but doing it anyway.
She thought about her family… her father, her brother… About all the people who’d looked at her and seen something small and fragile and easy to dismiss.
Raaze had looked at her and seen that too. At first. But he’d seen her, and he’d changed his mind.
That was more than anyone else had ever done.
“I love you too.” The words felt foreign on her tongue, but real. “You’re stupid, and arrogant as fuck, but I love you.”
His breath caught, and for a heartbeat, he just stood there, like he didn’t quite believe what he’d heard.
