I sit down beside her. “Delilah.” It scrapes out of me like a wound.
She blinks up at me, dazed and dreamy. Wrecked in a way that makes my chest hurt.
“You okay?”
She nods. Then pauses. “Think so. Why?”
“‘Cause I just fucked you hard enough to break the goddamn bedframe.” I run a hand through my hair, tug hard enough to sting. “Just making sure you’re not gonna sue.”
She giggles.
I almost drop dead on the spot.
“Can’t sue if I begged for it,” she says, stretching like a satisfied cat. “I should be asking you if you’re okay.”
I flinch.
She sees it.
Of course she does. She sees everything. Even the parts I hate.
I glance away, jaw tightening. “Yeah. Fine.”
She props herself on one elbow and eyes me like she’s dissecting me. Trying to find the soft part of the monster and poke it with a stick.
“You tried to do aftercare just now,” she says. “Didn’t you?”
I grit my teeth. “I am doing aftercare.”
“Oh yeah? What part is that? The sulking?”
I glare at her. “This is me being tender, okay? I asked if you were okay. I sat on the bed. I didn’t run. That’s top-tier nurturing for me.”
“Aw,” she coos, wicked little smile curling her lips. “You’re like a pit bull trying to be a therapy dog.”
I should be insulted. I’m not. “Fuck off.”
“You don’t have to be perfect, Jett.”
My name from her lips makes something in me clench, low, sharp, and sick with longing.
I look up and meet her gaze. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You didn’t.”
I shake my head. “Not tonight. But I could. I’m not wired right. There’s a reason I’m in anger management, princess. I keep trying to white-knuckle my way through being decent, and then you show up in my hat, saying fuck me, and I just,” I break off, breath hitching.
She leans in slowly, so I don’t bolt. Like I’m some twitchy, half-broken thing. Maybe I am.
“Jett.” Her hand brushes my jaw. Light. Soft. Dangerous.
I close my eyes. Let her touch me. Just for a second.
“You’re allowed to want me,” she whispers. “You’re allowed to have good things.”
I bark a laugh that has no humor in it. “You’re not a thing, Delilah.”
“I’m not really good either. I can be yours.”
