Page 44 of Break Me

I close my eyes for a beat, letting her words settle somewhere deep.

“You deserve more than this.” My voice cracks. “You should have a ring on your finger. A real future where you don’t have to wonder who’s watching when you walk into a room.” I swallow hard. “I want the whole damn world to know you're mine.”

Her hand cups my jaw, drawing my gaze back to hers. “I don’t need a ring,” she says softly. “I just need you.”

“That’s not enough for me,” I murmur, brushing my thumb over her lower lip. “You deserve more than stolen moments and sneaking around. You deserve a promise you can wear. Something real.”

Her eyes shine, but she shakes her head, stubborn and sure. “Sam, I don’t need a ring or a wedding. I only need you.” She presses her palm over my heart. “This is all I want.”

The truth of it breaks open something raw and vulnerable inside me.

“I’m still getting you a ring,” I say quietly.

Her hand slips down to hold mine—tight, certain. “Until then,” she says softly, “I’m yours. Completely.”

“I love you, Raven Sutter,” I murmur and kiss her, slow and reverent, because I don’t have any other way to say everything inside me.

Shifting my body, a sharp bolt of pain flares through my ribs. I curse under my breath and collapse back down, bracing my weight on my forearm before I crush her.

“Sam,” she whispers, instantly alert. “You’re hurting.”

“Nothing I can’t handle.”

It’s a lie. We both know it.

She cups my cheek, then she presses a soft kiss to my jaw before she gently pushes against my chest. “Let me take care of you.”

With a hiss of pain, I roll onto my back. She sits up slowly, the sheet slipping from around her. Her fingers skim over the dark bruises blooming across my ribs.

“Oh my god,” she breathes, voice breaking. “Knox did all this?”

“He didn’t pull his punches,” I say lightly, but the joke falls flat when she looks at me like I’m bleeding out in front of her.

“You shouldn’t have taken that from him,” she says.

“I’d take worse for you.”

She bends down, pressing a kiss over one of the bruises like she can erase it with her mouth. The gesture hits me harder than any of Knox’s punches.

I reach for her, needing her close again, but the hallway outside my room erupts with noise.

Footsteps thunder against the wood floor. Someone shouts. A second later, something slams into the wall hard enough to rattle the room.

Raven freezes, her eyes snapping to the door. I pull her against my chest.

The doorknob rattles once.

“Wolf,” Knox roars from the hall. “Open this goddamn door.”

The doorknob shakes again, harder this time.

“Raven? Are you in there?” her father’s voice booms.

Raven’s hand clamps over her mouth.

A violent slam follows, rattling the frame. I force myself upright.

“Sam,” she whispers. The certainty from a moment ago is gone. “What do we do?”