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My chest tightens, and it feels like the air is being sucked out of the room. But I keep it together. I hold it together for her because she needs that right now. I shake my head, my jaw clenching so tightly that my cheeks ache.
“Wrong answer.” My voice comes out gruff and hard with emotion, and I don’t even try to hide it. “You’re fuckingwrongif you think that. You’re not ruined. You’re strong as hell. You’re a queen, with four men who would all get on our knees for you. We wouldn’t want you so damn bad if you weren’t steel all the way through, baby girl. You’re not. Fucking. Ruined.”
She just stares at me, and I can’t take the blankness in her expression for another damn second.
So I use my hold on her to haul her closer, then I kiss her hard and fast. I pour all my feeling into it, pressing my lips to hers like I’m trying to breathe life back into her.
Knox moves to stand behind her, helping me hold her up, and let him take some of her weight. Maybe the press of his body along her back will do something to anchor her too.
But there’s no response.
Nothing.
Her lips are stiff and cool against mine, and she doesn’t stop me from kissing her, but she doesn’t kiss back either. Usually, she would melt into Knox’s touch or arch against me, but she just stands there, letting us touch her without doing anything in response, like a broken doll.
“River,please.”
I murmur her name like a prayer, like I’m fucking pleading with some higher power to hear me, even though I’ve never believed in that shit. I believe inher, though. I believe she’s still in there somewhere. I believe she’s strong enough to come back from whatever fucked up place she’s in.
“Please come back to me, baby,” I whisper roughly. “Don’t do this. Don’t let the darkness take you. You’re stronger than this, I know it. Please. Come back to us. We fucking need you.”
If she hears me, she doesn’t show it, and I tighten my hands around her upper arms, like she might disappear if I let go of her. Gripping her so hard that my fingers dig into her skin, I lean down and kiss her again, putting my whole soul into it, everything I’ve got.
Trying to drag her back from the darkness before she’s gone forever.
