Chapter Eleven #3
‘I have reason to be worried.’ His eyes glittered with sudden anger. ‘My mood changes with the wind, I can’t sit still for longer than five minutes, I can’t control myself when I need to. I’ve done so many…terrible things. Do you think any of that will make me a good father? A good husband?’
Her heart ached for him, for what he believed about himself. ‘Plenty of people have those very same so-called flaws, and yet they do make good husbands and fathers. I fully believe you can too.’
But he was shaking his head. ‘The only reason I haven’t slid back down into the place I was years ago, when I woke up on that yacht, is because of my control. And I have to have it. Without it, I become someone you wouldn’t even recognise, let alone want to be with.’
‘I don’t believe that,’ she said steadily, letting him see the conviction in her eyes. ‘You’re stronger than you know, Demon. And I am too. I can help you, if you’ll let me.’
He’d gone still, his hair standing up from where he’d raked his fingers through it, his blue eyes fierce with negation, the lines of his face hard and set.
‘No, Star,’ he said, his voice gone abruptly flat.
‘I can’t risk it, not with you, because you deserve so much more than anything I can ever give. ’
‘Demon—’
‘No,’ he repeated, conviction in the word.
‘No, I’m sorry. This has gone on for far longer than it should, and that’s my fault.
I was too greedy, too selfish, and it’s time I stopped being both of those things.
’ He straightened, steel in his spine. ‘You need to go back to Greece, Star. You need to be away from me.’
The Zoe she’d been before would have been devastated by the words, would have felt it like a cut to the heart, and would have struck out in rage.
But she wasn’t that Zoe any more. She was stronger, surer, and she wasn’t angry, because he wasn’t trying to hurt her, she understood that.
He was an animal in a trap clawing at anything within reach, trying to escape.
In which case she needed to be calm and patient.
Because she wasn’t leaving, no matter what he said.
Everyone else had left him, but she wasn’t going to. She never would.
So she said, ‘No, I don’t.’
Archimedes blinked. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean, I don’t need to be away from you, and I’m not going back to Greece.’
‘Zoe—’
‘No, Demon,’ she interrupted steadily. ‘I’m not going anywhere.’
‘But I told you. It’s impossible for me to give you what you need.’
‘I don’t care,’ she said, staring into his eyes so he could see the truth. ‘I don’t need anything but to stay here with you.’
A rising fury flickered in his blue gaze. ‘You wanted a family, Zoe,’ he said insistently. ‘Staying here will mean you won’t get one, because I won’t allow you to be with anyone else. Do you understand that?’
‘I do,’ she said. ‘But that’s okay. I don’t want a family with anyone else but you.’
A muscle leapt in his jaw and he stepped up to her suddenly, getting in her face, towering over her. She only tipped her head back and looked up at him, meeting his furious gaze, refusing to be intimidated.
‘You really want to stay with someone as jealous and possessive as I am?’ he demanded. ‘I’ll make your life a living hell.’
‘No, you won’t,’ she said, and she believed it utterly.
‘You can’t give up the chance for a family,’ he said, more desperation entering his voice. ‘I won’t let you.’
‘I can give up whatever I want, and you can’t tell me what to do.’ She reached up and touched his jaw, feeling the prickle of his whiskers beneath her fingertips. ‘I’m not leaving you, Demon. And you can’t make me.’
He jerked away from her touch as if she’d burned him and took a step back. ‘Then you’ve left me no choice. I’ll be the one to go.’
He was trying to push her away, she could see that. But she’d never let anyone push her around and she wasn’t about to start now.
‘Okay,’ she said. ‘If you want to run away, that’s fine. I’ll just wait for you to come back.’
That muscle in his jaw jumped again. ‘I’m not running away.’
A deep feeling of peace was moving through her, because she could see him now, the boy she’d once known. The livewire who’d shocked her awake, who’d brought joy into her life, who’d protected her, cared about her. The boy too terrified to let anyone in.
‘It’s okay to be scared,’ she said. ‘That’s what you used to tell me, remember? When you pushed me out of my comfort zone, challenging me to do something different and unfamiliar.’
‘Star—’
‘I dare you.’ She met his gaze. This was his comfort zone, wasn’t it?
His belief that he wasn’t able to love. Which meant it was her turn to push him out of it.
‘That’s what you used to tell me when we were kids.
So now it’s my turn. I dare you, Archimedes Athineos, to let yourself be loved. And I dare you to love me in return.’
His chin came up at that, his whole body going tense.
He’d never been one to refuse a direct challenge and she knew it. But she also knew that this challenge was one he’d never faced before, and he’d probably falter at the last hurdle. But that was okay. She’d wait here until he was ready. She’d always be here, waiting for him.
Archimedes stared at her for one long minute.
Then he turned and walked out of the door.