Page 110 of Pretty Savage: Defy

I pull away so I can see his face. “Did you just say you love me?”

Carrson lifts his head. His hands shake as he brushes tangled curls away from my face. He lowers his forehead toward mine and peers into my eyes.

“I’ve been trying to tell you every way I know.”

“Really?” I ask, as joy spills into my veins like sunshine, so bright I don’t dare believe it.

“Of course.” His thumb travels across my cheek, catching a tear I hadn’t realized had fallen. “It’s you and me, Tiger. Us against the world.”

His thumb slows, then stops against my cheek. “You don’t have to say it back. I understand if—”

The rest disappears into a muffled grunt when I throw my arms around his neck.

“I love you. I love you. I love you.” I’m crying now, tears spilling hot down my cheeks as I stumble over the words in my haste to get them out. There aren’t enough words, enough minutes, enough years to give Carrson Ashford everything I feel for him.

He’s told me he loves me in every language he knows.

I only need one.

So I say it again and again.

“I love you.”

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Chapter twenty-seven

One Day Until Bonding

Carrson

Everyone is quieter when we leave the club. Nearly half of us are missing, but I know who stayed behind, which rooms they disappeared into, and which drivers will bring them home. The rest are rumpled and glassy-eyed, too tired or drunk to keep shouting over the music inside.

Laurel and Samantha sleep with their heads resting against each other. They’re back in their regular clothes, having left the ones they borrowed back at Sinners.

I keep looking at Laurel.

I tell myself I’m checking that she’s all right, but every time I close my eyes, I see her standing in front of me with my dagger in her hand. I remember how she looked when she came and the relief of letting someone else decide what happened next.

For a few minutes, no one needed me to lead. No one needed an answer, a threat, or a plan.

I only had to trust her.

She knew I needed that before I did.

Laurel has a way of taking the thoughts I’ve kept locked down so long I no longer recognize them and saying them aloud. Once I hear them, I can’t pretend they aren’t mine.

Before we got into the limo, she said, “I heard you’re the future president.”

She left the words there, but Laurel never asks only one question. I could see the others crowding behind it.

Is that what you want?

Did you choose it?

What happens to us if you do?

Wesleyson interrupted before she could voice them. Tipson had passed out in the bathroom and needed help getting to the car.