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“By being celibate,” Leighton completes my sentence.
“Yes. It started out as a conscious choice. Then three years later, it wasn’t.” My lips hook to the side, despite everything. Leighton does that to me. Shines her light on my darkest places. “I fell for you. There’s no one else after that because I never wanted anyone else but you. But fuck, there shouldn’t have ever been a you, either. For your sake, there shouldn’t have been.”
“Until now that I was about to move?”
“That too. The thought of losing you hurt me on a visceral level. Then you started telling me we shouldn’t be together.” The air I suck in doesn’t feel cleansing. Nothing could cleanse me for what I’m about to tell Leighton. “Those aren’t the only reasons why I took you the way I have, though. You and I had been reckless, that day on the poolside. Before that day too. Both of us had been sneaking glances at the other. Ry picked up on it.”
It’s as though white paint has been splashed on Leighton’s face. The healthy tan is no more. She’s pale. So pale. I haul her into my lap, and when she straddles me, I grab her throat to force her attention back on me. Saving her from panicking.
I’ll save her from anything.
“Tell me you haven’t noticed.” My eyes narrow, searching hers. The flicker is there. Goddamnit, it’s there. She’s still with me. “You have. Forced smiles?”
She nods.
“Her mood wasn’t steady.”
“I thought”—sob—“I don’t know what I thought.”
“You couldn’t have known, baby.” Needing to reassure her, I wrap an arm around her, pinning her to me. “I could. The iced tea she offered to set for us would’ve been spiked. That day would’ve ended up with me fast asleep and you dead in our garden. For years, I’ve built and equipped this house for you, for us. Years of postponing, of thinking maybe this was a bad idea. Now, I’m sure it hasn’t been for nothing. This glass home was here to protect you. To hide you. It’ll continue being exactly that for as long as I’ll need. Until it becomes something better. A vacation home for us.”
Silence stretches in the room as we gaze at each other. Warm each other. Processing what I’ve just said. My reality and the heavy burden I’ve been carrying by myself are now shared between the two of us.
“That’s why you’re stalking her?” Leighton breaks the silence. “To see if she found out about this place?”
“Yes.”
More silence. It’s her turn to demand answers, to yell, to accuse me. I’ll let her do anything.
“Has she?”
“Not as far as I’m concerned.”
I brush a silky strand of hair behind her shoulder. My eyes skim over her blonde roots. Even if I would’ve wanted to dye her hair pink again, I wouldn’t have. She might be pregnant with our baby, and I’d rather avoid doing so until the second trimester.
I need a baby from her like I need air.
“She has no idea they’re there, so she couldn’t have fucked with them. I saw her at home this morning. She keeps wearing different clothes and the cameras on my app are hidden. She’s still there. And…”
“What?” Leighton asks when she realizes I’ve stopped mid-sentence. “What is it?”
“Milo is there some days,” I snarl. “Desperate to find you.”
I can practically hear the connections being made in her head.
My jealousy tantrum. Milo’s betrayal.
What toxic love really looks like.
Click. Click. Click.
“What are we going to do?” She runs a hand through her hair. “Does anyone else know we’re here?”
We. As in the both of us. She’s not giving up on us even after everything I’ve done. After how I treated her. How I covered up the murders of two innocent women for my daughter’s sake.
She loves me, regardless.
The relief is overwhelming, but my face betrays nothing. I’m strong. An alpha, all-powerful man for her. A wall of impenetrable resolve.
