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When I first met her, she was pretty, cute, but now she’s a woman, all grown up, and I need to be prepared for the effect she will no doubt have on me.
“I came,” I tell her, but she’s still staring. I inhale a deep breath before I finally decide to do it. I push back the hoodie of my jacket and glance her way. The breath I took whooshes from my lungs in one fell swoop. Her eyes are like gems as they pierce me right to the very fucking core.
If she recognizes me, she doesn’t say anything about it. Silence stretches between us like a wire tugged taut, ready to snap. A smile tilts her pouty lips up. They’re not shimmering, merely soft and wet from the way her tongue darts out, and she licks at them nervously.
“I didn’t think I’d see your face,” she says, but there’s still no recognition in her eyes.
“And? Was it everything you thought it would be?” I ask, smirking as she blushes a deeper shade of pink. Her soft, porcelain skin reminds me of those collectible dolls you find at antique stores. Untouchable, beautiful, fragile. And that’s what she is.
I must remind myself that no matter what her desires are, this girl is nothing short of breakable. I could so easily make her cry, make her scream, and that thought doesn’t do all that much for me like the thought of her under me while she’s asleep. And that’s where my depraved mind goes as I look at her.
“Perhaps,” she tells me. “I don’t know why I’m doing this.” Her voice breaks, but I watch her swallow down whatever emotion suddenly appears, and she shakes her head. “A long time ago, I thought someone would save me from myself, from my life. My father wasn’t a good man — well, isn’t — since he’s still alive.”
“You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to.”
She ignores me and continues, “He brought someone to me on my birthday, told me he was the man I would marry one day.” My chest caves in, and I am certain she’s about to confess that she knows who I am. Surely, she does.
“And then?”
“Like I told you before, he didn’t want me.”
“Why wouldn’t he want you?” I lean my elbows on my thighs, looking at her over my shoulder. Those gorgeous, jewel-like eyes shimmer with emotion. If she blinks, her tears will fall, and I picture what she’ll look like with makeup streaked across her face.
“I don’t blame him. I was only ten at the time.”
“What if he walked back into your life right now?” I don’t know why I ask this. That’s a lie; I do know. I want her to tell me she’ll accept me, the man who walked out and made sure her chances of surviving were shot to hell. Her father fucking sold her off to my father, and all for what?
“I would probably ask him why he hated me that much he’d allow my life to be shoved into the path of another bad man.”
“What if it wasn’t his choice?”
“Wasn’t it?” she questions, finally meeting my gaze. “You walked away and left me there, wondering what was wrong with me.” She knows who I am. The anger that simmers in her pretty eyes sparks something inside me, want and need, and something else. The need to make it right. To help her.
“Let me fix this and take you away.”
“Why? So your guilt can ease from what you forced me into?” She’s on her feet, her arms crossed in front of her chest, and I know soon enough she’s going to walk away from me. But I can’t let that happen. If I do, when all hell breaks loose back home, she’s going to be in the line of fire.
“Yes,” I answer honestly. I can’t lie to her. She deserves the truth, and that’s what she’ll get from me. But I need to make her see the danger she’s in. “If you don’t want to come with me, I’ll have to force you. There’s a war coming, Beauty, and it’s not going to be pretty. There will be casualties, and I don’t want you to be one of them.”
She stares at me for a long while. There’s intrigue in her gaze and a million questions that flit across her expression. I want to answer them all, to give her the truths she didn’t get for so long. But right now, my focus must be on getting her out of town.
The cabin.
It’s safe, secluded, and it’s the only place I know they won’t look for her.
“Don’t come back here,” she tells me. “I thought you were someone else, someone who—”
“I need you to listen to me,” I bite out, pushing to my feet, gripping her shoulders tightly. I want to pull her close to me, to hold her, but she shoves me away.
