Chapter 33
THIRTY-THREE
SILAS
“Are you sure you want to hear my sob story?” She attempted to play it light, but I wasn’t blind. I could see her mouth tweak down on the side.
Could feel the way her entire being shook with the thought of having to conjure what I was pretty sure she’d tried to bury beneath a castle tower.
But I figured it was futile. No stopping or altering the collision we were headed for.
Fuck, she was so pretty. No way to get enough, my eyes flicked all over her face.
Squandering the sight.
Knowing it was fleeting, no chance of something so good meant for me.
So I memorized every line and curve and divot instead. Tucking it down into those vacant places that I held for the ones who meant something to me.
Listening to the way her heart thundered and battered in the space between us, mine doing its best to match.
To keep up.
To keep time.
Insane the number of beasts I’d faced down, and I was positive it was going to be this beautiful creature who would be my demise.
“Is it wrong that I want to know every single thing about you?” I murmured as I played with one of those curls before I let my fingertips trail down the angle of her jaw.
“That would be a whole lot to unload on you, King.” It was nothing but a soggy tease.
My chest stretched tight, and I splayed my hand over her cheek, my thumb brushing back and forth along the hollow of her eye.
“What, do I look weak to you? You think I can’t handle all that you are?” There I went, doing my best to play it light, too.
A fool’s game since I already carried the weight of the world on my shoulders.
Her expression dimmed, harvest eyes caressing over me like she was trying to memorize me the same way. “You look like the kind of strength that I could get lost in. Someone who could make me let down my guard. Someone I could come to rely on if I’m not careful.”
I saw the rest of what was written there. The truth that the only person she could rely on was herself.
“Would it be so bad to rely on me?”
“For just a little while? This mess requires a whole lot more than a few weeks.” Sadness weaved its way into Brinley’s tone as she repeated the warning I’d already issued.
This was temporary.
Whatever this was had an expiration date.
It was the day I put Kent Ellison six feet underground.
“Though a few more of those orgasms might be nice.” Another joke to deflect, her seductive mouth stretching into a taunt that was riddled with affection.
Affection I could never earn the right for her to feel, but there it was. Potent and disorienting.
“I’d hold it all if I could, but I’m asking you to let me hold this.”
This was what I could. The strength I bore.
Vengeance. Revenge. The drawing of blood.
Wasn’t so sure I’d consider it a gift, but right then, maybe it was.
Her strong brow pinched, and the pad of my thumb went to tracing along that spot, too. Trying to soothe, wishing there was a way to completely take it away.
“I’ve never let anyone go there before.”
“Are you afraid of taking me there?”
She scoffed a small sound. “I’m afraid of everything, Silas.”
Fury clawed through my insides, though I kept it tapped, stored it up for when I could hunt down the motherfucker who’d caused the pain that roiled in her being.
It’d be my honor to flay the skin from his bones.
I wasn’t above torture.
Hell, half the time, I took pleasure in it.
“Who was he?” I didn’t mean to let it come out a command, but that’s exactly what it was.
A flurry of rage skimming beneath the surface of my skin and ushering me toward mayhem. The thirst for retribution rocking my hands.
Brinley flinched, but I knew it wasn’t because she was afraid of me.
She was terrified of being taken back.
Terrified of lowering the walls enough that I could see over them.
Moisture filled her eyes, a hurricane of browns and golds and reds drawing me deep into her storm.
“Silas…” She trembled, and I knew she was getting dragged back.
Terror breaking the cracks that had been made in her facade.
I set both hands on each side of her face, anchoring her to me as I whispered, “I’m right here. You’re not alone.”