Chiara’s pale gray eyes met mine and she grimaced. “Trev and Carol?”
I hesitated. “We’re all going to be okay, Angel. It’ll take time, and probably some professional help, but we’ll get there. We’re all just so glad that you’re… that we got to you and that you managed to get away from him.”
She squeezed her eyes closed and my breath stalled as I waited for her to process whatever emotions were bombarding her right now.
Gently, I reached out to take her hand in mine, desperate to touch her again. Her fingers curled around mine at once and I didn’t realize until then that I’d stopped breathing.
You almost lost her.
I could have lost her andanychance of seeing her again, of fixing my mistakes. Because now I knew I’d fucked up. I’d been about to walk away from her because I was worried she’d be taken from me. And I was right, she still could be, but I wasn’t going to save myself from any emotional fallout by refusing to be with her now.
I’d just be crippled with regret for missing out on the happiness we could have had together.
Hearing her struggle and fight with Ellis had me going over the deep end again and contemplating killing my own cousin, proving I was still capable of great violence. But never againsther. I knew on a deep level that no matter what I would never turn that anger on her. I’d do anything in my power to protect her.
Sofia and Kate were right.
I’d begun falling for Ara when we were teenagers. She’s been this scrawny, quiet, soft-spoken girl with a weird amount of self-control and understanding about herself and her boundaries. She wasn’t easily pushed away or swayed to do something she didn’t want to do. She’d had this way of talking to me that didn’t feel like she was trying to empathize with me or tell me how to handle my anger or my grief. She was justthere.Whether we were sitting in silence, or she was talking to distract me from my rage, she was a quiet pillar of strength that never asked for anything in return. I’d been fascinated by her, and the older she got, the more attracted I’d been. But it was also clear as day that she was off limits for a guy like me.
It hadn’t stopped me from falling for her though. Seeing her again after all these years had brought those emotions roaring back with a vengeance—as if they’d been silently building—and crashed through the walls I’d erected around my heart now that we were together again.
She was always meant to be mine; I was sure of it.
Silence fell between us, and for a long moment, all I did was watch her. She was alive, she was breathing, and despite how banged up she looked now, she would be okay. I’d be here to make sure of it.
“Is there anything I can get you, Angel? I’m at your service, whatever you need,” I offered.
She swallowed hard and blinked again, eyelids heavy.
“No, I’m okay. I don’t want you to miss your flight.”
I sucked in a sharp breath and shook my head. “I’m not leaving, not now.”
She frowned and seemed to take a moment to compile herthoughts. “You have to, Flynn. Your life is waiting for you back there. We… we knew this would end,” she said, her words slow as if it took too much effort to string them together.
I gently lifted her hand and pressed a kiss to it. “No, Angel. I’m not leaving you. This isn’t the end for us. I know now that I can’t just let you go. We can make it together out there. I know we can. It took me a while to realize it, but we can do this.”
She grimaced and shifted slightly, and I ached to help her even though I knew there was nothing more I could do.
“Flynn, I need you to go,” she whispered.
My breath stalled again as I looked at her bruised and battered face. Swallowing hard, I gently lowered her hand to the bed again but refused to relinquish my hold.
“I… I know some of this is my fault. If I hadn’t walked away from you, if I could have figured out what I wanted earlier, you never would have been alone. Ellis never would have—”
She squeezed my hand and forced her eyes open wider. “Stop.”
My breath caught, and she looked like she was trying hard to maintain eye contact.
“Not your fault. Never. Do not go home thinking any part of this is on you. I don’t blame you.”
My heart pounded harder hearing her say that, but it left me confused as to why she wanted me to leave. Unless… a knife seemed to pierce my chest as realization dawned. Unless she feared—as I originally had—that I would one day turn my anger on her. I couldn’t blame her after what she’d just lived through, but it stung like fuck to know she now thought I could ever hurt her like Ellis had.
She must have read my mind, because she squeezed my hand hard again. “Not that, either.”
“Not what?”
“Never scared of you, Flynn. I always felt safe with you, still do.”
