Page 181 of Creep
I nodded.
A strange look crossed over her eyes. “Yes, just fuck ’em all, right? Even Brody Mathews?”
I narrowed my eyes on her. “Don’t utter that name from your lips, kitten.”
She didn’t say anything for a moment. Her eyes roamed over my face, searching for something. “So it’s true. You hurt Brody?”
She didn’t sound angry. Or surprised. She didn’t sound to be anything. “I let the boy live. And he will continue to live if he continues to be smart about his decision.”
“You mean his decision to stay away from me.”
I shrugged. I wasn’t going to apologize for that. I wasn’t going to apologize for any action I had taken regarding her.
I brace myself for her anger.
She surprised me when she let out a small sigh and leaned against me. “You can be so…”
“Awesome? Sexy? Amazing?” I supplied.
She pinched my side, surprising me. “Infuriating.”
“Infuriatingly handsome.”
She snorted. “Fine. Let’s just go with that. And please stop hurting men just because I have a past with them.”
“Whatever,” I mumbled. I wasn’t planning on hurting the men she had a past with. Her past was her past, and I didn’t care about it…much. Fucking Brody was special because unlucky for the fucker, he had been touching my girl and lusting after her during the time I was in her life, and that was just unacceptable. And the fucker wasn’t so innocent. He had a record and a reputation with his temper. He hadn’t killed anyone or hurt themso far, but I was keeping an eye on him, and he knew it, too. One wrong fucking move…
For now, I let him live. And that should count for something. And he wouldn’t be bothering my girl anymore.
No other fucker would be bothering her anymore. I would make sure of it.
It was just her and me from now on. Just us, and it should be that simple. She wouldn’t easily forget about it, but this was a start.
“Mael?” she said, breaking the stillness in the air.
“Yeah, baby?”
“I love you.”
My breath caught, and I tensed.
I felt my lungs freeze in my chest, and it seemed like no matter what I did, I couldn’t get any air inside. I should have expected that. Her whispered confession the other night should have prepared me for the moment when she was brave enough to say it out loud.
I knew she loved me. She was willing to look past all the shit I’d put her through and all the shit I’d done in my past, so there was no way she didn’t love me.
It didn’t matter. I still felt caught off guard.
She let out a nervous chuckle and shifted against me. “You don’t have to say it back. I didn’t say it to force a confession out of you. In fact, why don’t we just pretend I never said anything in the first place? Yes, that sounds like a good idea…”
She was babbling. It was cute. And no fucking way in hell was I going to pretend this didn’t happen.
I squeezed her to me. “Lia?”
“Yeah?”
“Shut up.”
She gasped in outrage, making me smile. “That is such a mean thing to say, Mael Beckett.”
