Page 35 of Burn Me Down

“No, I like it.” She looked away, her long eyelashes covering her eyes.

My nerves scattered all over the place, and I stood up straight and sucked in a deep breath. My hands shook as I reached for the zipper on the back of the mask, but I couldn’t seem to get it to work.

“Maybe we can wait one more day,” I blurted out, but Beck grabbed my arms.

“Stop thinking of the worst possible scenario. If you say you know me, then believe in me.”

Nothing like having your own words thrown back at you.

But she was right, and I slowly knelt before her. “Then you undo it.”

I dropped my head and concentrated on keeping myself from jumping to my feet and running out of the room while Beck trailed her fingers along my arm and shoulders as she stepped behind me.

She touched the zipper, and I clenched my hands into fists.

With the first click, I shut my eyes.

Beck pulled the leather off, and I couldn’t stop myself from turning the ruined side of my face away from her. I never wanted her to be scared of me or see the horror in her eyes. Body shaking uncontrollably, I jerked at her gentle touch on my chin.

Unable to take it anymore, I pulled away and marched to the door to leave.

“Derek, please,” Beck said, her voice soft yet firm. “Trust in me.”

This was going to destroy me. I could feel it. I was on the edge and could hardly draw a breath, but one painful step at a time, I slowly turned around. With all the strength I could gather, I looked into Beck’s eyes. Tears ran down her cheeks as she walked toward me, and I searched her face, my breathing fast as I waited for the moment horror passed over her features.

She stopped, hands reaching up to cup my face. Her fingers traced over my ruined skin. I grabbed her wrists and stared into her eyes.

“Stay it,” I growled.

“You’re as sexy as sin.”

“What?”

“If your father weren’t already dead, I’d kill him for hurting you like this, but I have never seen anyone as handsome in my entire life.”

Confusion had everything in my heart and mind screeching to a halt, and my hands fell away from her wrists. “You don’t need to lie to me. I won’t fall apart.” That was a lie. I was close to breaking forever, but that wasn’t her burden.

She shook her head, her eyes hardening. “I don’t lie.” Beck touched my chin and made me turn my head. Rising on her toes, she kissed my cheek, and tears I didn’t know I could still cry spilled from my eyes. “You’re not a monster,” she whispered, and my world shattered.

Rebecca

My heart was breaking for him. This man who could rip a car apart was full of so much fear and self-loathing. His eyes filled with tears, his body shook under my hands, and I wanted to kill his father for doing this to him. The ragged scar stretching from his ear down the side of his cheek must have been painful. I could picture him and Asher as kids on the run. Derek’s mind spiraling down a dark hole. Laughed at, ridiculed, and made to feel ostracised before being tossed into a system that wanted to forget he ever existed and then did its best to break him.

“You don’t need to lie to me. I won’t fall apart,” Derek said. The anger already swirling in my gut rose higher, and I wanted to take him and shake him.

I glared up at him, making sure I had his full attention. “I don’t lie.” I touched his chin and forced him to turn his head so he couldn’t hide in the shadows. Rising on my toes, I gently kissed his cheek, and tears fell from my eyes. The connection I felt for him ignited into so much more. From one breath to the next, I knew I was falling for him and wouldn’t let anyone hurt him again.

“You’re not a monster,” I whispered.

Derek wrapped his arms around me, and I could feel the pain in his heart as if it were my own. He buried his head into the side of my neck and cried, grabbing onto me like I was the only thing keeping him up, and all I could do was hold him. I couldn’t say how long we stood there. Eventually, the shaking in his body lessened, and the tears stopped.

“You must think I’m weak,” he said, and I wanted to smack him for saying something so stupid to me.

“Don’t ever say that to me.”

Derek straightened, and he looked nothing like Asher except for the identical eyes. His looks were rugged, with a dark five o’clock shadow that enhanced his strong jaw. He had black hair and was easily a few inches taller than his brother. Derek was dangerous and sexy. He could sit on a Harley or front a rock band and look like he belonged. I suddenly understood why all of my other relationships had failed. I had chosen men who didn’t stir the deepest parts of my soul, but one look into this man’s eyes, and I knew I could love him forever. It was insane, yet being here with him felt right and more natural than anything else in my life.

I loved Vi and hated what the loss of her parents did to her, but I was more certain than ever that the young Derek West who had murdered her parents was as much of a tortured soul then as the man in front of me now. Ghosts clung to him as a second skin, and he was dragging them around like a ball and chain.