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“I’m not going anywhere,” I repeated, gripping his hair as he tried to move away. Surprise flitted over his face, his eyes finally meeting mine.
“You don’t know what I—” he cut himself off, clenching his jaw so tight I heard his teeth grind. “Fuck, Kaylie!” His eyes darkened as they locked on mine, and when he spoke again his voice was just a rasp. “Everything I am tells me to stay away from you, but I can’t. I fucking can’t.”
“Then don’t,” I whispered, stepping closer.
“Fucking easy for you to say,” he muttered, and I smiled through the tears brimming in my eyes.
“No, I’m terrified, but you’re worth it.”
He rose to his full height, tilting my face up and crushing his lips to mine.
Then just as fast, he cried out, clutching me to his chest as his body shuddered. “This fucking shoulder,” he gritted out, squeezing me as his breaths landed in my hair.
I pulled away, letting him catch his breath. “I’m so sorry,” I gasped. “I didn’t realize.”
He gave me a twisted grin that quickly turned into a grimace of pain as he adjusted the injured arm, holding it in place against his stomach. “You will be the fucking death of me.”
“I’m not going to die.”
Kaylie’s truth burned hot within, making me grip her tighter as she stood before me. Fuck pain. Fuck the goddamn shoulder that made even holding her, agony. At the moment I didn’t care. Right now, all I wanted was to feel her body. To know she was alive and…mine.
The little word slivered into my head and heart uninvited, but I didn’t have the strength to kick it out. I tasted it, twisted it on my tongue.Mine. Was she ever anybody else’s? From the moment I saw her, ‘til now. She was always mine. Even when I was too goddamn stubborn to admit it.
Mine.
I fought against it for too long, tried to stay strong and numb to the feelings she awoke within me. The days in that cage changed it. Changedme. I never wanted to feel anything again, and I wouldn’t have had. If it hadn’t been for her fucking blue eyes. She had me from the start. Something about her made it impossible to shut her out. After the weeks from hell, even more so. She was the only constant. The one thing I could focus on to get me through the days trapped there. She was my hope, my strength when I didn’t have my own. She was everything, and she was right here.
My good arm snaked around her, pulling her against me. Reality would catch up. I’d come to question this. No doubt about it. But right now, I fucking needed her.
“I’ll just—” Johnny cleared his throat, gesturing vaguely to the door. Before I could ask, he was gone. Then, minutes later, the door opened, and Johnny popped his head in. “I’m in the room next door. Have fun.”
I scoffed at his wink. How much fun could I have when I could barely move?
Kaylie shuffled away from my hold of her, giving me a small smile. “Now what?” she breathed, and I stopped the impulse to shrug before it jolted the shoulder.
“I have no fucking clue.” I sat on the bed, staring at the bare white wall opposite of the room. She moved to sit next to me.
“How did you get away from them?” I asked.
A heavy silence wrapped over us. I waited, keeping the impatience at a minimum to give her time.
“Alex helped me.”
I lifted an eyebrow in calm question. Inside I fumed. “Just like that?” It sounded too easy. That the guy was behind sneaking her to the cellar to see me, I already figured out. But letting her go. Something didn’t add up.
“I blackmailed him,” she whispered. “I had no choice, I—” her voice broke, and the worried glance she gave me made me scoff. What, did she think I wouldn’t approve? That I’d judge her?
“Fucking perfect,” I grinned, imagining the son of a bitch trapped in her pretty little claws.
“Not so perfect,” she sighed, picking at the remaining flakes of red nail polish. “I was just lucky.” She looked at me, and the emotion in those ocean blue eyes made me choke up.Damn. I wasn't the only one traumatized by this. I was so fucking focused on my own pain I forgot to think of hers.
“What happened?” My voice was raw, tinged with anger. If that sick bastard did anything to hurt her…
“He slipped up from the start, told me he’s gay, and…” she paused, and I took the moment to analyze. Gay? Okay, that was good. Less likely he would have… I didn’t want to think of it. And I didn’t have to. She must have sensed my thoughts because she rushed to say. “He didn’t touch me.”
I gave her a stiff nod, trying not to let her see the instant relief flooding me.
“But I… I was meant to marry him, and—”
