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GENEVIEVE
When I wake up the next day, Booker is still next to me, warming me to my core. Not wanting to wake him, I extract myself from his arms and legs, smiling as he reaches for me even in his sleep. I quickly grab the clothes he brought me and hurry to the bathroom. Once there, I clean up and get dressed, smiling at my reflection in the mirror. I can’t remove the glow in my face or my smile.
Fuck.
Turning away, I pad downstairs. Archer sits at the table, Eric is at the stove, and Gage is nowhere to be seen.
“Morning.” I cough awkwardly, but I refuse to be embarrassed as I head over to Eric, who holds out a mug for me. Accepting it with a grateful smile, and feeling relieved he’s not bothered by what he heard last night, I take my seat at the table. I pull my knees to my chest as I warm my hands on the mug and meet Archer’s knowing eyes, a smile curving his lips as he looks me over.
“You look better. Maybe one of us should have given you an orgasm earlier to make you more pliant.”
Usually, that would piss me off, but I just roll my eyes and ignore him.
“I’m guessing you have worn Booker out and he’s sleeping?” he asks when he realises I’m not answering.
“Yes,” I reply sweetly, fluttering my lashes at him. “Why? Wish it were you?”
Snorting, he looks back down at his phone. “If I wanted to fuck you, sweetheart, I could have had you whenever I wanted, and we both know that.”
My eyes narrow and fury pounds through me as I open my mouth to yell at him, but then Eric is there, breaking the tension as he sets plates before us and loads the table with cheeses. “I bet you’re hungry.” He winks, and just like that, my anger deflates. I smile gratefully and grab my fork, digging into the omelette as I glare at Archer, who doesn’t even seem to notice or care.
He might not hate me or distrust me, but he certainly doesn’t feel the same way I do and that stings. Pocketing his phone, he stands and finally meets my eyes with an arched eyebrow. “Problem?”
“Just wondering why you try so hard to keep distance between us,” I respond, uncaring how blunt it is, “when I can see how much you want me.”
His eyes widen briefly before he quickly masks it. He leans in, pressing a fist to the table, and brings his mouth to my ear. “I’m determined to protect my family, Genevieve. You might not be our enemy anymore, but you are something much more dangerous.” With that, he straightens and walks away, leaving me staring after him in shock.
“Ignore him,” Eric says softly as he sits with his own breakfast, “and eat, please. I hate how skinny you look.”
“Nice,” I mutter.
He blinks and blushes a little. “Not what I meant. You know you always look amazing—Ah…” He scrubs his neck before blowing out a breath. “Just eat, please?”
“Since you asked nicely.” I grin and dig in. We eat in comfortable silence, and once I’m done, I lean back with the mug, watching him.
“Are we okay?” I murmur.
I’m all in now, so I don’t want any secrets between us. We didn’t start on the best of terms, but since I’ve let myself be weak, I might as well be vulnerable once more.
Sighing, he grips his fork harder. “I think you need to understand why it hurt so much.”
“Okay,” I whisper.
His eyes are sad and guarded when they meet mine. “I was in a relationship for a long time. I loved her, truly loved her. I was going to marry her, and we planned our entire futures together. I planned to grow old with her. What I didn’t know was that she didn’t feel the same. I came back from a job to find her fucking a guy I thought was my friend.It broke me, Genevieve. I trusted her. I trusted both of them. I don’t even remember what really happened after, apart from the bone crushing agony that was with me for so long, followed by the anger. The betrayal. It made it hard to trust anyone.” My heart hurts for him, and more guilt fills me at being just like her and hurting him, using him. “That’s the simplified version anyway. I can’t go into details, it still hurts if I do. She destroyed my world, that I can tell you, and I was left lost and wandering.”
“Eric.” I stand and move around the table before dropping into his lap and cupping his cheeks. He closes his eyes as he leans into me, his hands dropping to my hips and gripping so hard, it stings, but I let him hurt me the way I hurt him.
“I’m so sorry. I can’t take back what I did, but I truly am sorry. And I’m sorry that she hurt you, that they both did. You don’t deserve that. Nobody does. If she wasn’t happy, she should have left. Not that, never that.”
He nods, pressing his head to my racing heart as I stroke his hair and hold him to me as if I can protect him from the world.
It’s obvious he’s a good man who has had bad shit happen to him. More than that, he’s been betrayed his whole life. No wonder he took what I did so hard.
“I’ll spend forever making up for what I did to you.” I grip his chin and force him to look at me as I stare into his pained eyes. “Until you trust me again. But know I will never betray you again. I will never hurt you the way she did.” Yet didn’t I sleep with Booker? He knows that, though, and doesn’t seem bothered, so I brush that worry aside. “And if you tell me her name, I will make it my life’s mission to destroy both her and him. I’m an equal opportunist.”
He smiles, and the laughter returns to his eyes, replacing the sadness there that I never want to see again.
“Part of me wants to let you, but they are in my past and I’ve moved on. Sometimes, it still haunts me. It changed me. I’m quicker to anger, I find it harder to trust…and you broke that, Genevieve.”
