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I think about her words, try to see this from her perspective, and it galls me that she’s right. In an effort to protect her from the darkness inside of me, I’ve kept a lot hidden, buried so deep she’d never reach it.
“I’m sorry.” Two words that I rarely say make my fingers cramp. “I’m sorry I kept parts of myself from you. But I’m not sorry for doing what I thought was the right thing to protect you.”
Violet shakes her head. “Don’t split hairs, Grim. You lied.”
“I did. And I’ll probably do it again. But I swear to you, I will never lie about who I am or how I feel. I will never fucking lie about us.”
She stares at me for a moment, and I don’t know if she’s seeing me or the Grim Reaper. Not that it matters. We’re one and the same when it comes right down to it. Then she tilts her head, and my gut clenches.
“I remind you of your mom, don’t I?”
“Yes.”
“Do you love me?” she asks.
“I…”
“It’s an easy question, Grim. Do you love me? Yes or no?”
Not two minutes ago, I promised never to lie about how I feel, yet here I am, remaining silent, breaking that promise.
CHAPTER32
VIOLET
He doesn’t love you.
I need to get out of here.
“Why don’t I go hang out at Jez’s house?” I suggest.
Grim shakes his head, anguish etched on his face. My heart aches for the pain and torment he felt as a child. Watching your mother live through physical violence is not a burden any child should bear. I want to reach out to him, comfort him, but he’s shut down.
The best thing for both of us right now is probably space. Well,Ineed space. I wanted him to open up, but I had no idea how deep the secrets he kept really were. Grim found me in the exact situation he tried to save his mom from. He couldn’t save her, and I’m the do-over, Grim’s second chance at redemption. I feel so stupid for confessing my love to him.
He doesn’t love me. All he sees is a victim of domestic abuse.
I huff out a breath and try a different tactic. “It’s claustrophobic sitting here all day, every day. I’m going stir crazy.”
Grim squares his jaw. “No, and not because I want to control you,” he tacks on when my eyes narrow.
“Then why not?”
“There are things you don’t know.”
“Tell me.”
He dips his chin and sighs. “We met with your parents.”
I blink rapidly. “Who’s we? Why?” Standing, I start to pace.
Grim grabs my hand and tries to get me to sit back down, but I shake him off before waving my hand for him to continue.
“Me and some of my brothers.” I gasp in shock. “You know how your parents went to the dark web to find you?”
I nod. “Yeah.”
“Well, turns out they had ulterior motives.” I start to ask a question, but he presses a finger to my lips. “They needed a reason to reach out for help without drawing attention to themselves. It seems that your parents were looking to find someone to take out that fucker, Brad. Not only to save you, but to save themselves.”
