Page 318 of Axis of Fire

only myself,

for choosing silence

when I should have chosen you.”

How deeply words can wound.

Slipping beneath the skin without hesitation.

Without warning.

And why the hell had that damned installation been so right?

Even the biggest idiot would understand by now that I cared about Airis.

That something inside me was drawn to him.

Desperately.

Dangerously.

And every time those feelings became too real...

I ran.

Why the hell did I keep giving fear so much power over me?

And why was I still allowing Kai—

Someone who had already left my life—

To continue living inside it?

This was because of him.

Because I knew exactly how devastating love could become once it shattered.

And I was so terrified of feeling that pain again...

That I'd chosen to avoid love altogether.

Even while my heart longed for it.

Even while it feared it.

My gaze shifted from the running water to my own reflection.

And damn.

I saw her.

Frightened.

Vulnerable.

So painfully vulnerable that my chest ached.

She listened to reason...