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“I’m trying to save your fucking life! Every second that I stay here, that your da’s boat sits in that harbor, is another second closer to them capturing you again! I can’t let that happen, Clo. I can’t—”
Strangled with emotion, I turned away from her and grabbed the shirt off the bed again. I couldn’t look at her. Not that it mattered. I didn’t need to see her face to know how devastated she looked. I didn’t need to hold her to feel the panicked pounding of her heart. Clover had become a part of me, and the act of leaving her behind was about as horrifying and excruciating as severing one of my own limbs.
“You’re leaving me here?”
Fuck. I was wrong. Cutting off an arm would hurt a hell of a lot less than hearing the sadness in Clover’s sweet voice.
“It’s the only way to keep you safe,” I choked out.
“No,” she said, walking toward me. “No, I’m coming with you.”
“Clo!” I huffed, tossing the shirt down and grabbing her by the shoulders. I held her at arm’s length even though it killed me, even though all I wanted to do was pull her close and never let go.
“Don’t you get it?” I said. “They won’t stop until they find me. And if you’re with me when they do”—I closed my eyes and tried to block out the images of what had happened the last time my father sent for me—“they’ll kill you to hurt me.” My voice broke. “That’s what they do. They kill everything I love and make me watch.”
Two small, damp hands clasped the sides of my face, instantly cooling the inferno of rage and grief that had been burning me alive.
“You … love me?” Clover whispered, the hope in her voice extinguishing the flames completely.
I leaned into her touch, but couldn’t bear to open my eyes. “Let me go, Clo,” I whispered back. “Please. Let me save you.”
“You already did.”
Tilting my face down, Clover lifted up onto her toes and pressed her lips to mine. I held my breath, hoping that this time, I could do it. That this time, I could stop the clock forever.
But all too soon, her lips were gone, and the pain flickered back to life—like the strike of a match, ready to ignite my petrol-soaked heart the moment I walked out that door.
“This is different.” I opened my eyes, hoping she would see the gravity of the situation on my face. “This is the Bratva.”
“Every day, it’s something different,” she said, running her thumbs lightly over my scruffy cheeks. “Today, you rescued me from the encampment. Last week, I saved you from drowning and infection and dehydration. Don’t you see, Damien? The only reason either of us is still alive … is because we have each other.”
Hope swelled, filling the cracks of my shattered heart, as I realized that I couldn’t argue with her. And I didn’t want to. I felt like I was back on the ship, watching her run toward the edge of a cliff rather than accept her fate. Her bravery, her refusal to surrender, had inspired me to take the leap as well. I hadn’t known whether or not we’d survive the jump, but I’d been willing to find out if it meant that I could experience two seconds of freedom with her on the way down.
Dropping my forehead to hers, I released her shoulders and slowly slid my hands down the sides of her back. “You jump, I jump?”
Clo nodded, clutching my face tighter as my palms came to rest under the swell of her arse.
“Then, jump.”
Lifting her off the floor, I swallowed Clover’s startled gasp as her thighs clamped around my hips and her arms wrapped around my neck.
“Your wound!” she mumbled against my lips as I carried her across the room, but the moment I pressed her back against the wall, the moment our bodies collided, Clover’s concern dissolved into something carnal and craving.
A moan rumbled in her throat as she clutched my head with both hands and kissed me with a hungry, breathy need, and I realized that I hadn’t just stopped time; I’d fucking reversed it. It felt like we were back in the cave, back before everything had turned to shite. It was just Clo and me and the indescribable relief of knowing that she wanted me too.
But when her hips tilted up and my cock slid along her slick, warm center, the cave disappeared, and I found myself back at the encampment, thrusting between her thighs while a platoon of eager rapists watched with their dicks in their hands.
Was she there, too, reliving that moment? Was she bent over a counter in her mind?
Squeezing my eyes shut, I broke our kiss and pressed my forehead to hers. “Stay with me,” I begged, clutching her tighter. “Please, angel. Talk to me.”
“What do you want me to say?” she asked, and the soft amusement in her tone, the way her lips curved as she kissed me, put me at ease.
Slowly, the dimensions of the room returned to normal, the fluorescent lights of the fish market dimmed, and the shouting, grunting crowd of men that I was about to kill faded away until it was only us.
Us and something more. Something fucking indescribable.
“Anything,” I answered, my chest heaving in sync with hers. “Everything.”
