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ChapterThree
“Iwasn’t sure you were going to come out here. You stood by the door so long I thought you’d turn away.”
Remy stood with his back to me, looking out over the top of the blooming hedges that enclosed the garden.
He wasn’t wrong. I’d stared out the window pane of the door for long moments, debating if I was about to make an idiotic mistake like some too-stupid-to-live character from a horror movie.
Because that’s what happened to girls like that, right? They go somewhere alone with the sexy monster and wind up dead.
And damn, was he sexy. Even the back of him was a work of art. His broad shoulders were nearly visible through the thin fabric of his collared shirt, thickly muscled forearms on display thanks to his characteristically rolled-up sleeves.
I remembered how it felt to dig my nails into that taut muscle as he kissed me breathless, and suddenly being alone with him was stupid for an entirely different reason.
I kept my eyes above the waist, because if I let them drop to his ass, I’d be in even more trouble.
“I thought about it.” May as well be honest. I steeled myself and put some strength behind my words. “What do you want, Remy?”
He finally turned to face me and my insides flipped. Golden eyes stared into mine, a fire behind them that I couldn’t decipher. His corded neck flexed when he swallowed, and his clenched fists looked more than a little intimidating. Upon closer inspection, I could see that he was physically resisting the urge to move forward, his torso leaning slightly toward me despite himself.
“You haven’t come to see me in a while.”
“With good reason.” He flinched and I felt a little ashamed of ignoring him. But then the ghost of my terror revived in my chest and I brushed aside any empathy. He’d scared the ever-loving shit out of me, anyone in my position would have fled just like I had.
“I’m sorry for what happened, Fury. Sometimes my past… well, it has a way of catching up with me when I least expect it. You were never in any danger, I swear to you.”
“I find that hard to believe. How could you know that I wouldn’t be affected by… what you did?” I didn’t know how to describe it. It was a massacre, but not in the traditional sense. And it hadn’t been intentional as far as I could tell, and intent mattered. Still, he should have warned me of the potential for him to lose control like that.
“Because you cancel me out, as I do you. Your ability will protect you against someone like me. Death can’t kill death, now can it?” He shot me a grin that was sexier than I cared to admit, but it lacked his normal flirtatious heat.
Well, that was good to know. I wondered what other perks my ability came with that I was unaware of.
His revelation irked me, though. He could have told me something like that from the beginning. Yet another secret he’d kept from me that could have saved the five years of my life that he’d shaved off with his outburst.
Five years of an immortal life were like cell phone minutes on an unlimited plan, but I didn’t care. They were mine and they still mattered to me, dammit.
“Thea, I—“
“You know, I really don’t want to hear it, Remy. A little communication could have saved us both all of this drama, and I would have been alert when they—” I snapped my mouth shut before the words could continue to tumble free. He had no idea what my fear had caused me to blindly walk into. There was no way, unless he was super secret BFFs with Varon or Sam, but I doubted that. Sam hadn’t wanted me to talk to Remy from day one.
“When they what? Who is ‘they,’ Thea?”
“Was there something you needed to tell me? Because I have somewhere to be.” Lie. I was staying away from the room for the sake of River’s burgeoning love affair with Ben, but Remy didn’t need to know that.
His brow furrowed and I could tell he wanted to press me further, but he wisely backed off. “I just needed to talk to you face-to-face, to make sure you weren’t traumatized or anything.” He grinned like he’d made a joke, which only pissed me off further. He didn’t understand that traumatized was exactly what I was.
I turned on my heel to stalk away, but his hand was on my elbow before I’d taken two steps.
“Let go.” I forced the words through my gritted teeth and met his gaze over my shoulder.
He dropped the offending hand in an instant. “Shit, I’m sorry, Fury, I didn’t mean to make you mad. I just wanted to lighten the heavy mood a little. You have no idea how fucking sorry I am that I scared you.”
His sincerity was easy to hear in his voice, but I was too far gone to appreciate it. Still, just like with Sam, I couldn’t just turn off what I felt for him. Before everything had gone to shit, he’d been working his way into my heart one training session at a time. Thanks to him, I was learning to control a scary part of myself that could have easily broken me otherwise.
It wasn’t enough to dissipate my anger. Not yet.
“I’m not ready to forgive you.” Pain slashed through his expression but was shuttered quickly. “I’m not saying that I never will, but I just… I can’t yet. I need you to give me some space.”
“Of course. I understand.” He stepped away from me and shoved his hands into his pockets. “You let me know when you’re ready.”
