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Tears sting my eyes, and I try my hardest not to let them fall. Dane breaks away and dries my wet cheeks. “Why are you crying?”
I shake my head and laugh. “It’ll sound stupid.”
“No, it won’t.” His eyes hold so much emotion. His pupils are black and dilated while the irises are a dark chocolate brown with swirls of gold. I could get lost staring into them.
“Nobody’s ever told me that before.”
He seems taken back. “Nobody has ever told you they love you?”
I shake my head, afraid to meet his eyes now. I don’t know why, but suddenly, I’m shy. What if he finally sees what everyone else sees when they look at me? A lost, broken girl nobody could ever love.
Something flashes in his eyes. Something that looks a lot like sympathy. “Well, I love you.” He slips in one more quick kiss. “Who cares what everyone else thinks? It’s just us. Nobody else matters.” He lowers himself to me again and kisses me deeply.
I tangle my fingers into his hair, needing to keep him close. I need to feel his weight against me. I need to feel his heat, so it can warm the coldest parts of me. And I need to feel his love, something I’ve never felt so much of in my entire life.
His hand hooks under my knee, pulling it up over his hip. The force from the movement against my beaten legs rips a gasp from me.
The sound makes him pull away suddenly. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”
I shake my head and try pulling him back to me, but he won’t come. His facial expression has changed from pleasure to pain. He pushes himself up on his knees and looks down at me. “Show me.”
I sit up, resting my back against the headboard, which causes me to flinch from another bout of pain. “There’s nothing to show you.”
“Bullshit!” His breathing picks up, and his chest is rising and falling quickly. His jaw is set, and his lips are drawn into a thin line. He’s angry — angry at Ed for hurting me again or angry at me for not wanting to admit to it. I’m not sure which.
His anger only fuels my own, and I stand quickly, heading for the door. I need to get out of here before I say or do something to ruin this, ruin us. I always do this. I ruin everything.
When I march past him, he grabs my wrist. “Show me!” he demands.
I push his hand off of me, intending on stomping out the door and down the steps to gain some distance. But the next thing I know, his body presses me against the door while his hand pulls up the back of my shirt.
I don’t fight him anymore. The damage is done. He’s seen the marks. I know from the painful gasp I hear slip from his lips.
“What the fuck did he do to you?”
I can’t face him. Leaning my forehead against the door, tears fill my eyes and fall down my overheated cheeks.
“Answer me, Alissa. What the fuck did he do to you?”
“When I was late coming in last night, he threw me down and hit me with his belt,” I answer, still not looking at him.
I grip the doorknob for dear life and prop against the door, so I don’t fall over like my shaking legs want to. Behind me, something shatters, and Dane screams, “Fuck!”
The sudden noise makes me jump. When I turn around, the mirror above his dresser has been shattered.
He is pacing the floor, but when he looks up to see my tearstained face, he stops. “I’m going to kill him for ever fucking touching you.”
I can’t argue with him any longer. I just nod my head while the tears continue to fall.
He walks over to me and reaches for the hem of my shirt. I allow him to pull it off gently. He spins me around to get full view of my swollen back.
I cringe when something touches my shoulder, but then I realize it’s his lips. He kisses my shoulder and trails them across my back to my other shoulder.
“I’m sorry for letting this happen to you,” he says between kisses.
I spin around to face him and place my palm on his cheek. “You didn’t let this happen.”
“I fell asleep and didn’t get you home on time. I took you back there for him to beat on.” His eyes fill with unshed tears. “I’m so fucking sorry.” He removes my hand from his cheek and places a kiss on the palm. “It won’t happen again. I won’t let it.”
