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She nodded, and even though I could see she didn’t believe me, maybe didn’t trust me, she wasn’t going to push it. Cementing my suspicions about Becca already being gone. Maybe that was for the best.
“It wasn’t all lies,” I added after a minute, answering her question from before. “It was all real between us. But you already knew that. I get that it’s easier to think we were all out to get you from the start.”
That struck a nerve, she flinched, and my stomach soured in response.
Yes.
I knew what that was like, too.
Not being able to accept that there were people out there who cared about you. Really cared. Searching for hidden meaning in every word they spoke, in every gesture. Trying to untangle imaginary lies from truths. Looking for ulterior motives always.
“I know what you’re thinking,” I continued and this time she looked at me, searching my eyes to see if I was right. “You’re going to leave.”
The truth was clear in her eyes as she held me there, captive in her burning stare.
“You’re going to disappear. Tell me I’m wrong.”
She couldn’t.
I let out a heavy breath. “Don’t.”
“Why shouldn’t I?”
“Dies…he shouldn’t have done what he did with Becca, but even you have to understand the reason wh—”
“I do!” she countered, her shoulders rising like a cat getting its back up. “I do fucking understand and that’s the problem. I want to hate you. Them. Him.”
She paced back three steps before returning, her chest heaving. “But I can’t. I can’t, and it’s fucking absurd.”
I shrugged. “Then don’t.”
She laughed darkly, shaking her head at the ground.
“We need you, Ghost. I need you. Tell me you’ll consider staying. Please.”
Ava Jade stiffened, her head snapping up, the laugh dying in her throat.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d used that word. Please. It tasted bitter on my tongue, full of hope that only she could smash.
“I…” she started, but didn’t finish, swallowing, her eyes glassy.
“Don’t answer now, just think about it. And…and if you decide to go, I’ll do everything in my power to make sure no one comes after you. But I’m telling you now—”
I stepped in close, sealing off the offensive gap between us to take her face into my hands. “If you leave, that’s it. You can’t come back. Not ever. I can’t do this twice.”
Her lower lip quivered, and on instinct, I pressed my mouth to hers, consuming her fear as if I could steal it from her and carry it as my own.
Her lips, soft and resistant at first, pressed harder against mine as she deepened the kiss, our tongues flicking out against each other. She tasted of salt and copper, and it made my body ignite with a need so strong my blood rushed in my ears, drained from my face to fill my cock as it thickened in my jeans.
She moaned against my mouth, and my fist found the hair at the back of her neck, twisting in and holding her hard against me as her fingers searched for something of mine to hold on to.
My Ghost ground her hips into me, and I shuddered at the contact, wanting this—her—right now, more than anything I’d ever wanted in my life. But she hadn’t chosen us. Not yet.
I yanked her head back with my grip on her hair, breathing heavily as my cock throbbed in my jeans. “If you decide to stay, you know where to find us,” I whispered against her mouth.
Before I could change my mind and strip her naked right there in the middle of the road, I released her and stepped back. Back again. Taking in the long shape of her body, every curve, every blemish on her skin, her face, the face of an avenging angel come to take my soul.
And then I turned and walked away, heading back in the direction I’d come, stuffing my fists deep into the pockets of my jeans.
