Page 135 of Challenge Me

“Tough luck, Remi. I’m not abandoning you, and I’m not lashing out.”

“Sure.”

Grabbing him by the throat, I turned him around so he was against the wall. Immediately, he dug his nails into my wrist, and his anger fell away to reveal the vulnerability beneath.

“You think I don’t know the real you?” I said. “This is him, right here. This small, scared, beaten down man looking at me right now, begging me not to hurt you.”

I ran the fingers of my other hand through his hair, and as it shifted, my eyes caught on something at the side of his neck. My thumb brushed the mark, then another one beneath it. With a sharp intake of breath, I jerked away from his throat.

“He did this?”

He touched the bruises. “It’s my fault.”

“Don’t you ever say that.”

“Every time, it was my fault. With Cole and . . .” His eyes glistened, and he began to tremble.

I tipped his head back gently. “There’s no world where anything that has ever happened to you is your fault.”

“I just . . . I wanted somebody to love me, but all they ever do is hurt me.” He slid down the wall, and I followed. “Why am I so hard to love?”

Before I could respond, he slung his arms around my neck and slammed his mouth against mine. I nearly fell backward but managed to settle on my ass.

“I’m sorry everything’s hard because of me,” he said. His lips pushed mine open as his fingers tangled in my hair.

“Baby, wait.”

When he pulled back, he dropped his face onto my shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“Stop apologizing, God damnit.”

Gripping his hair, I pulled him back so I could see his face. Tears streaked down his cheeks, and in some fucked up way, they made him look stunning for the fact that I was seeing the rawest version of him.

“Listen to me. Whatever happens, we’ll deal with it. Together. But we can’t do that if you don’t trust me.”

“I do trust you,” he rasped.

“You keep proving otherwise. It’s not just you anymore, Remi. It’s us, and that means the hard things too.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

With a jerky nod, he took my face in his hands and kissed me. I stood, picking him up as I did. His legs wrapped around me, clutching me to him. It wasn’t far to the bed, so I dropped onto it with him without taking my mouth from his.

“And quit making me stop you from running,” I said. “It’s really damn stressful.”

“I’ll try.”

That was all I could really ask for.

He tugged at my shirt, and I let him pull it over my head. When he ducked to kiss my chest, I closed my eyes.

For a minute there, I’d thought this thing was going to end. It had been the worst feeling of my life, and I knew that somehow, I needed to make sure it didn’t happen again.

I almost protested when he slid off his pants, but there was really no point. I wanted him, and if he wanted me right now, that was exactly what I’d give him.

“Are you okay?” I asked.