Chapter 18
Declan Buchanan
Karey drives us home even though being behind the wheel makes her uncomfortable. I consider offering to take over but my hands still shake too much. I refuse to put her life in danger when she’s better suited to getting us home safely.
We ride the elevator and enter the apartment in silence. Karey’s hand in mine is the only warmth in the world. I don’t dare infect her with my cursed blood but also refuse to let her go.
She doesn’t press for the rest of the evening, but when she cuddles up next to me in the bed, hands seem to close around my throat. I fight to stay awake, knowing I should sleep in the chair, but my exhausted body drags me into darkness.
My father kicks me. I jerk. Two feminine voices call my name; my mother screaming and my lover pleading.
A broken, mangled body lies at the bottom of the stairs. My father’s dead eyes stare directly into my soul.
Blinding light fills the world and objects pummel my body. I wake swinging and snarling.
Karey throws another pillow at me from across the room.
“Don’t make me take you by the ear again,” she warns.
I pivot and meet her eyes. She stands with another pillow raised and ready to throw at me.
Pressure builds in my chest. She lifts the pillow higher.
Laughter bursts from behind my sternum. It billows up from deep inside me and roars from my throat until my entire body aches. I can’t breathe.
My cupcake climbs into my lap and wraps herself around me.
“Want to talk about it?” she mumbles against my shoulder.
I shake my head.
She sighs.
“This is hurting you, Declan. I want to help. Please talk to me,” she pleads.
I splay one hand over her back and grab her ass with the other but again shake my head.
She pushes against my chest and rolls off the bed. Her anger both mesmerizes me and punches me in the gut.
“Oh, so you want the comfort of my body and that’s it? No emotions? No connection? I don’t want that kind of relationship with you. Don’t shut me out.”
I run my hands through my hair and sigh but can’t force the words from my throat.
“Fine, we’ll do this the hard way, then. I’ll start.”
She steps further away and crosses her arms over her chest. Although she starts strong, her bravado quickly crumbles.
“You left me and never came back. All I had were a few nasty words and the sight of your back as you walked away, then you were gone. Transferred schools. No contact information.”
Tears stream down her face, but she makes no move to wipe them away.
“I thought I had done something wrong. Like I wasn’t enough for you,” she sobs.
Her pain shatters my inertia. I reach for her, but she dodges.
“No, Karey. You were always perfect. I was the one who wasn’t okay,” I snarl.
“Then tell me what happened so I can understand,” she pleads.
“I killed my father.”
She trembles from head to toe with her hands clenched into fists at her sides.
“You killed your… how?”
“I pushed him down the stairs,” I say in a cold, emotionless voice.
Abject misery consumes me. She’s going to walk away now, just like I did to her so many years ago, and the fucked up part is I can’t blame her. She should. I’m not safe. I’m not a good man. I don’t deserve her. I can’t protect her from myself.
She stuns me into the present by framing my face with her delicate hands.
“He was abusive, wasn’t he? I saw your bruises but was too afraid to ask,” she says through a throat thick with tears.
I nod. She takes in a shaky breath before asking, “He found out you were expelled for fighting and took it out on you?”
I shake my head and clear my throat but the words still burn.
“He found out I didn’t win the fight. His son couldn’t have lost. He wouldn’t stop. My mom tried to save me. I wasn’t fast enough.”
She brushes her thumbs over my cheeks, smearing the tears I refuse to acknowledge, and finishes the rest of the puzzle with a few heartbroken words.
“And then you came back to school and thought I’d replaced you.”
I nod.
She takes a deep breath.
Pain thrums through my ears as she pinches them.
“Look at me, Declan Buchanan.”
I’m powerless to deny her.
“I could never replace you.” She kisses my cheek. “You’re my knight in shining armor.” My nose. “My feral beast.” My other cheek. “My one true love.” My forehead. “My soulmate.” My chin.
“Mine. All mine. Forever.”
She seals her promise by initiating the hottest, dirtiest, rawest kiss of my life.
It says everything words can’t express, but when she finally lifts her lips from mine, I respond with the truth.
“I love you, Karey.”
Her response is instant. No hesitation. No doubt.
“I love you too, Declan.”
She’s mine. My soon-to-be wife. My one and only. My cupcake. My forever.
And I’m hers.
Always.