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There was silence for a long moment as I waited, stiff and tense, for him to say it, to tell me, to be the brave one. Before all of this, I would’ve considered myself braver and stronger and tougher than Crossbody, but that was bullshit. He far surpassed me in all of those things. Just in a different way than I’d expected.
He’d been the first to make a move. He’d been the first to admit he wanted more. He’d let me tie him up and use his body as much as I wanted and force him to admit to the things he craved.
He’d thanked me, multiple times, knowing how vulnerable it made him. Knowing how much power it could’ve given me over him.
And he’d apologised first too. Even though I’d been the one to start our stupid feud. It was my fault we’d spent the last five years hating each other for no good reason.
And yet here I was again, forcing him to be the brave one. Forcing him to make himself vulnerable and exposed first. It wasn’t fair. It was my turn to put myself out there and make myself raw in front of him.
To admit things I’d never, ever thought I’d be admitting.
Except, with him, I wanted to.
Chapter Fifty
Vince Gives The Perfect Love Declaration
Vince
“No, wait,” I blurted when Crossbody parted his lips and sucked in a sharp breath to speak. “I want to say something first.”
His mouth snapped shut again. He nodded warily, lowering his hands to his sides and waiting in silence, looking as tense and nervous as I felt.
Heat rushed to my face, and I opened my mouth to speak a few times, but ultimately stayed silent as an uncharacteristic rush of nerves had me fidgeting in place and struggling to come up with exactly what I wanted to say. I couldn’t fuck it up. I needed it to be perfect—that was what he deserved.
I just had no fucking idea how to give the perfect love declaration. That was not something I’d envisioned for myself in the near future, especially not directed at my fae prince colleague who I’d previously despised.
How had Dan done it? He’d been as chronically and willingly single as me until Rafe. Had he told me how it went? Did he buy Rafe shit to make it all special? Like… I don’t know… Candy. Flowers.
Shit, Crossbody would’ve probably liked flowers. He was a fae. He loved plants and stuff.
Maybe I should ask him to just hang tight for ten minutes while I go out to buy some flowers…
“Vince?” He sounded uncertain, because I was still just standing there, staring at him in wide-eyed silence. When I swallowed, still saying nothing, he sighed and looked down. “I understand if you don’t want to—”
“I love you,” I blurted, my face on fire.
Crossbody’s head snapped up, his mauve eyes wide with shock.
“You’re all I think about. Honestly, I thought about you way more than I should have before we even started fucking,” I admitted hoarsely, my face burning even hotter. “When we didn’t talk for a while, after the motel, I got all… weird and angry because I… I missed you.”
I heard his breath catch. He took a step forward, beginning to speak, but I continued before he could.
“When you told me you were going back to Otherworld, I… It felt like all my fucking insides got ripped out. When you didn’t show up for work those few days, I fucking hated it. You’ve always been there. You’ve always been… important to me. Even when I refused to admit it to myself.”
“Vince—”
“I’ll never stop feeling guilty for being such a prick to you all these years,” I said, shoving down the embarrassment that automatically started to rise when my eyes prickled with heat. “I’m so, so sorry, Cro—Elvis. I’m sorry. If you’ll let me, I promise to make it up to you.”
He smiled, crossing the room to stop in front of me. “You don’t need to make anything up to me. We both antagonised each other. Neither of us is blameless.”
“Still, I—”
“Vince.” He cupped my jaw, dipping down to kiss my cheek. “I love you too.”
My entire body sagged with relief. “You do? So you weren’t just being all dramatic when you said it at the palace?”
He laughed, but his shoulders rose in a tiny cringe at the same time. “Well, I do wish I hadn’t told the entire court the other part—”
