“You… bounce?” I asked, unable to keep the look of surprise off my face.
“Sometimes. It’s not what I do for a living, though. That’s a lot more boring.”
“And that is?”
“Architect in training. I work for Andy’s dad, James. But…”
“Another obligation you don’t feel you can get out of?” I guessed, realising just how much Henry seemed to put his own life on hold to please everyone else around him.
I could relate to that more than he knew.
“Something like that. When you owe certain people your whole life, it’s pretty rude to turn down opportunities they offer you at their own expense, even if those opportunities aren’t what set your soul on fire.”
“And security work does that for you?”
“No.” He laughed, shaking his head. “That just allows me to take my anger at the world out on arseholes like that guy back there who touched you.”
“Oh.” I swallowed. “I didn’t realise how much you enjoyed being violent.”
“I don’t enjoy being violent as much as I enjoy teaching people a few manners here and there.”
“Manners. Is that what you kids are calling it these days?” A shiver ran through me, and I wrapped my arms around myself despite the warmth, my shoes dangling from my fingertips.
Henry’s eyes dropped to my arms, which were now covered in goosebumps “You’re cold.”
“No.” I shook my head. “Just… I don’t know actually. I feel weird all of a sudden.”
He closed the distance between us. “Weird, how?”
“I have no idea.” My body started to tremble without my permission. I hugged myself tighter, but nothing seemed to work.
“Shit,” Henry hissed, and before I knew it, I was back in his arms, my cheek pressed to his strong, warm chest again. “I think you’re going into shock.”
“D-Don’t be ridiculous.” I tried to laugh, but it only came out as a strangled jumble of words. “Shock over that back there? That was… that was nothing.”
He rubbed his large hands up and down my back, caressing the bare skin there, and all I could focus on was the beating of his heart against my ear, the sound so rhythmic, it allowed me to close my eyes and simply… trust him.
Henry told me to take a few deep breaths, and I did as he instructed, breathing in and out in time with him until I began to feel the wave of unexpected panic recede.
“That’s it,” he soothed. “Your body’s relaxing. You’re good now.”
“Good now,” I repeated on a whisper, inhaling deeply to soak in his heavenly scent—one I was becoming all too familiar with, as well as addicted to.
But as much as I enjoyed being in his arms, I hated how pathetic I sounded. I’d endured a lot in my life—heard a lot, seen a lot, felt a lot, survived even more. The way I seemed to crumble in this man’s arms made no sense.
“I hate that I didn’t punch him myself when I should have,” I admitted quietly. “I promise I’m not weak, even though I look it right now.”
Henry carefully peeled me off his chest, held me by the shoulders, and looked into my eyes. “Don’t you ever say anything like that to me again. You’re not weak, you’re angry, with every right to be.”
“But—”
“No buts, Phoebe. I know the world wants all women to be hard and all men to be soft these days, but the fact is, we are what we are, no matter what anyone says or thinks about it. Allow yourself to feel whatever you feel right now, and fuck what anyone else, especially me, thinks. You hear me?”
I nodded, unsure what to say. Where had this man come from, and how had I been the one to catch his attention when all I’d given him so far was attitude and complications?
“We’ve only known each other a few days, and this is the second time you’ve swept me off my feet and come to my rescue. Thank you,” I said softly.
“You don’t need to thank me. And for what it’s worth, I think you’re way tougher than me.”
