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Her feet moved to the sofa, but I caught her hand, pulling her in a new direction.
“There’s something we have to do first.”
“Do you want me to wash before I get in?”
“That’s optional.”
“Can I do it tomorrow? I just don’t want to be naked again.”
She pulled the neck of my sweatshirt to her nose and inhaled the fading scent, and I nodded.
“Yes. But I’ll get you a clean hoodie.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
I disappeared into my closet, returning with something clean for her to wear. I turned around, giving her privacy to change before shifting to my desk chair. I pushed it into her path and told her to sit.
She was good at following orders. Accustomed to it, or so I thought.
“It’s weird. So often, I rebelled against Rothbart. It feels different doing what you say. Like there’s a choice, and that makes me want to please you.”
I bent before her, moving her hair from her face. “You have a choice here, with everything.”
“Then why is your jaw clenching?” She picked up on my mannerisms.
“Because there’s one thing I don’t want you to have a choice in. I just want you to follow my lead. Accept what I give you and roll with it. And maybe that’s selfish.”
“Maybe. Maybe it’s worth it.” Her pretty eyes glittered under the light.
My heart hammered with the possibility of getting everything I wanted.
“What’s that one thing?”
I stood and spun the chair, turning her to face the screen saver that had taken over my idle desktop screen because I couldn’t look at her and say such honest words. “What happens between us. Can you do that? Can you give me one chance to prove to you why you should be here with me and not anywhere else?”
“Are you giving me my life back, Remi, or taking it away?”
“I can’t give you your old life back.” Because if I did, I’d lose you. “But I can give you a better one. If you’ll let me.”
“A new life, here, with you?”
“Yes. To give you all the things you originally wanted that I failed on.”
She didn’t talk, unless she whispered so quietly, I couldn’t even hear a hum of sound.
Then, she lifted my sinking heart into her hand and nodded.
This was crazy. Her, here, in my room, agreeing to stay.
This morning, I considered sending Dec for her and avoiding her for my own sanity. Fuck sanity. Because I was so glad that I was the one to break into that house. So glad I was the one to literally rip out the organs of the man who’d hurt her in front of me. I was as happy to put my hands inside him as he was her.
And I was so glad to fucking have her back that I didn’t even care about all the old fears rising to the surface of my black soul.
“Hold your hair forward for me.” I pushed the auburn strands over her shoulder.
Another order was followed with no hesitation. A braid formed, thick and long, beneath her moving fingers.
“Good girl.”
