“You got anything you want to take with you?” Fang runs his fingers down the back of my left arm, taking my hand in his.
I stare at the connection, dumbstruck.Do I?My mother didn’t have any keepsakes. No family photo albums, no hand-me-down jewelry. Nothing of meaning or sentiment. We lived basic. Fewer belongings meant fewer things to shift if we needed to leave.
I glance about the room and then back to our joined hands before daring to look in his eyes. “What changed?”
“When?”
I hesitantly smirk. “I thought I was a Breed mutt that couldn’t be trusted? Why do this for me when you could have easily left me to my fate?”
He glances to our hands and gently lets mine go. “I need to make something clear.” Fang’s eyes move back to mine. “Whatever I do is for you. But whatever the club does is for them. You understand what I’m saying?”
I nod, circling back to the middle of his statement.“Whatever I do is for you.”
“What does this mean for us?” I whisper. “Your club doesn’t have to like me, but I can’t go back somewhere I’m not wanted.”
He glances to the door.
I get it—we need to go. Figure out where the fuck my father and Suzannah have run off to. But I have to hear this first before I do.
Before I know if it’s worth it.
“I can’t speak for the club; that’s Chaos’s job.” He retakes my hand, thumb stroking the back reverently. “But having you in my life has woken me up to a lot of shit, Jenna.” He pauses to swallow. “I wasn’t on a good path. I treated people wrong, and it showed. You forced me to face up to that.” He lifts his gaze to mine, and all I can find is the sincerity of a man who regrets a lot. Painfully so. “I treated you wrong, and I’m sorry.” He takes my other hand. “I’m sorry for how I pushed you, knowing it would put you in a bad place. I was selfish, thinking it’d get you out of my life quicker, but it did the opposite: it proved why I need to keep you in it—in my life. I don’t want you to leave us, Freckles. I need you to stay. Iwantyou to stay so that we can figure this shit out together. Because I get the feeling, girl, that we’d make one hell of a team if we’d only learn to stop fighting one another.”
I’m not going to cry.I’m not going to cry. Fuck this man and all his flaws.
I couldn’t fall for somebody perfect. Their brilliance would shine a light on all the cracks in my soul, making me feel inadequate and unworthy. No. I was always destined to find somebody as flawed and remiss as I am. Somebody who understands the ache in my chest that never truly goes away, no matter how many times I make amends or apologize for what I’ve done.
I need to know I’m not judged for the mistakes of my past, and I think, perhaps, not judging Fang for his is how we do that. Give each other what we hope to get from the relationship.
Lead by example.
Take the scary step into the unknown together.
“They’re pretty words, Nibbles,” I say with a coy smile. “But they don’t change one thing.”
“What?” He frowns, grip tightening on mine.
“Where I come from. I’ll always be a Breed mutt, and you’ll always beone of them crowned fuckers.”
He smiles, ducking his chin slightly to hide it.
I yelp when he pulls me against him, arms banding tight around my waist. The movement makes my head throb, but it’s a small sacrifice to make for the way he looks at me.
“If Romeo and Juliet could make it work, then so can we.”
I lift an eyebrow. “You do realize they both died at the end, right?”
He shrugs. “Isn’t that what we’re trying to do? Kill the past versions of ourselves and start again?”
“I guess.”
“What d’you say?” Fang leans in, grazing the tip of his nose against mine. “Want to be my tragic love story?”
“Why does it have to be a tragedy?” I tease.
He smiles, gaze dropping to my mouth. “Because you’ve already ruined me, Jenna.”
“How?” I eye his lips also.
