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"Okay," she murmurs, giving me a soft, appreciative smile before slipping into the bathroom.

The door clicks shut, and the sound of the shower turning on echoes through the quiet cabin. I stand in the center of the living room, running both hands harshly through my damp hair. I let out a long, ragged breath, my heart hammering against my ribs. I’m reeling. Just having her here, trusting me, smiling at me in the middle of a crowded room… It’s rewritten every single priority in my life. She is everything I never thought I deserved, and now, I can't wait to spend the rest of my life proving I'm worthy of her.

CHAPTER SIX

EDEN

Iwake up in the middle of the night, reaching out instinctively, only to find the sheets beside me cold and empty. I fully expected Onyx to be right next to me. We hadn’t formally discussed it, but it felt silly for him to sleep out on the couch again after everything we’ve experienced and shared in the last few days.

Sitting up, I pull the heavy quilt around my shoulders. He’s gone, but a soft, warm pool of light spills through the doorway from the kitchen, a quiet indicator that he must still be awake.

I slip out of bed and pad softly into the living area, finding him sitting at the small kitchen table. He’s perfectly still, his broad shoulders tense as he stares blankly at the wall. I move silently, pulling out the wooden chair and sitting right next to him. He doesn't say a word, just turns his head to watch me with dark, heavy eyes.

I reach out, covering his massive, calloused hand with my own. He immediately turns his palm over, threading our fingers together and giving my hand a tight, desperate squeeze.

"I get nightmares sometimes," he finally says, his voice a rough, gravelly whisper that cracks in the quiet room. "I’m sorry for waking you up".

I lean in closer, resting my head gently against the solid warmth of his shoulder. With my free hand, I slowly trace the thick, twisted scars that crawl up his left arm, my touch feather-light. "Are they about how you got these?" I whisper into the quiet space between us.

He gives a stiff, jerky nod.

"You don't have to tell me," I offer softly, not wanting to push him into a darkness he isn't ready to face.

He shakes his head, his thumb stroking the back of my hand. "I owe it to you. After the way you opened yourself up earlier for the sake of the club.”

I wait for him to take the lead, continuing my gentle touches that seem to calm him down. And then, the unshakeable, hardened, tattooed, muscled biker breaks wide open.

“My parents were shit,” he starts, his voice hollow and hoarse. “Violent drunks. Never could keep a job down. Constantly getting evicted and relocating to increasingly dangerous and destitute places.”

“That’s awful,” I whisper.

Onyx shakes his head. “That would have been tolerable, except…” He sighs and wipes a hand down his face, bracing himself for the truth he’s about to share. “I had a little sister. Candice.” A flicker of nostalgia, love, and unbearable pain flash across his eyes when he says her name. “I shielded her from as much as I could. But then I fucked up. I took an overnight shift at the shipping yard where I worked, hoping to make some extra cash to get Candice something nice for her birthday. She was turning ten.”

Onyx is silent for so long, I don’t think he’s going to finish his story. Then, with a long, drawn-out breath, he pulls the last remnants of his past up from the darkness so he can show me everything, all of him.

“I got a call in the middle of my shift. The fire department is at the trailer park, currently trying to put out a fire in my home. I left without saying a word. When I got there, I pushed through the cops and the fire chief, needing to get to Candice. They tried to tell me… but I wouldn’t listen. I couldn’t. I needed to save her.” Tears gather in my eyes, afraid for what’s next. “She was in her room, which was blocked by flaming heaps of rubble. The door frame was ablaze, the door itself hanging off the hinges with flames licking the dry, nearly cardboard material. I… I think I knew she was gone when I first stepped inside, but I couldn’t just… I couldn’t just leave her there. So, I pushed away the rubble, tore the door off, and gathered her up in my arms.”

“Onyx, no…” My voice is barely above a whisper.

“I was too late. Everyone was gone. My entire family, just… dead. I couldn’t give to fucking shits about my parents, but Candice… I failed her, Eden. I let this happen. I shouldn’t have left her alone, I–”

“It’s not your fault,” I tell him softly. As I was expecting, he shakes his head and dismisses my words. He’s carried this guilt, this burden every single day of his life since then, a weight so heavy it makes my own chest ache just listening to it.

"I don’t deserve kindness, Raindrop," he rasps, his jaw clenching as he looks down at our joined hands. "And I certainly don’t deserve someone like you. Someone so pure and beautiful.”

My heart shatters for the boy who had to endure that, and for the man who still thinks he's broken. I shift in my chair, wrapping both of my arms securely around him to comfort him, desperate to ease his pain. "It wasn't your fault, Onyx," I tell him again, more fiercely this time as I squeeze him tight. "You were a kid, too. Neither you nor Candice deserved the way your parents treated you. I know you were an amazing big brother.”

“Eden…” His voice cracks slightly, as if it pained him to hear that, but he lets me continue.

“Since the moment you saw me, you’ve done everything you can to make me feel safe. Not just giving me a place to live, but the small things, like when you dried me off and bandaged my wound. You’re loyal to your MC, and to me, and I know you were loyal to your sister, too. This isn’t your shame to bear any longer, Onyx. You’re a good man,” I tell him, pouring every ounce of reassurance I possess into my words.

I look up at him, and my breath catches. There are actual tears shining in his fierce, dark eyes.

He leans down, resting his forehead heavily against mine, letting out a shaky exhale. "You've healed me, Eden," he whispers, his voice thick with emotion. "In ways I didn't even know I was broken.”

And then he kisses me.

It starts as a desperate press of lips, but the moment my hands slide up into his hair, the kiss combusts. He grips my waist, effortlessly lifting me up and setting me right on the edge of the kitchen table. He steps flush between my spread thighs, crowding into my space in the most intoxicating way. He kisses me deeply, worshiping me with his ragged words and his hot tongue, mapping my jaw and my neck with a reverence that makes my head spin. In this beautiful, heated haze, my heart entwines with his. I know, with absolute certainty, that a part of me will always remain with him. I just pray the rest of me gets to be with him forever, too.