Page 93

I looked down just as his eyes opened, and for several seconds, he stared at my chest as though he had absolutely no idea why his face was pressed against it. Then his gaze lifted slowly to mine, and I watched memory arrive.

Every trace of sleep vanished.

“Ash.”

He immediately tried to pull away, but the movement caught his ribs before he got more than a few inches. His face tightened with discomfort, and I caught him automatically, keeping one hand at his waist and the other behind his shoulder so he couldn't twist himself into another injury.

“Easy. You're going to hurt yourself.”

“Let go of me.”

“No, because right now, you're trying to launch yourself out of bed with bruised ribs and one functioning shoulder. You can be furious with me in thirty seconds, but first, you're going to stop moving long enough to breathe properly.”

His eyes flashed. “I need to get up.”

“You need to stop making that face every time you move.”

“What face?”

“The one where you pretend something doesn't hurt because acknowledging pain would apparently violate your contract.”

The glare he gave me was considerably better than the naked panic I'd seen when he'd first woken, but it only lasted a few seconds before his gaze slid away. “I remember what I told you.”

There it was.

I loosened my hold immediately, although I kept one hand lightly at his waist in case he tried to move too quickly again. “How much?”

“Enough that I know I shouldn't have said any of it.”

“You probably wouldn't have chosen last night if you'd been sober, and I'm not going to pretend otherwise.”

His eyes snapped back to mine. “Then forget it.”

“I can't do that, Ash. I wish you'd been able to choose when and how you told me, because you deserved that choice, but pretending I didn't hear you isn't going to give it back.”

His jaw tightened. “I don't want to talk about it.”

“Then we won't.”

That clearly wasn't the response he'd been expecting. He studied me suspiciously, as though waiting for the qualification that didn't come. “You're not going to ask to see the video or demand to know how long he's been blackmailing me?”

The guilt that turned in my stomach at the second question was immediate. I already knew more about the payments than Ash realized, and I hated that the knowledge existed between us without him knowing I had it.

“No. I'm not going to ask you anything you don't want to answer this morning.”

Frustration joined the embarrassment in his expression. “Then what the fuck are you doing?”

“Staying.”

That stopped him more effectively than anything else I'd said.

His breath caught beneath my hand, and when he looked at me again there was so much uncertainty in his face that I wanted to drag him against me and hold him until he finally believed I wasn't going anywhere.

Instead, I waited.

He'd spent years having his choices taken away by his father. I wasn't going to add myself to that list simply because touching him would make me feel better.

After a moment, Ash looked away again. “You don't understand what I told you.”