“I don’t want to talk,” was all he said.
I carefully brushed my fingers over his hair, pushing it back behind his ear so I could see his face. His eyes were closed and I could feel the tension rolling off him in waves. I wanted to say or do something to take away whatever it was that was causing him so much anguish, but I was at a loss. I didn’t know how to fight an invisible enemy. But I also couldn’t just turn away from him and pretend he wasn’t there. I had to hope he’d come to my room for a reason. So, I sucked in a breath and asked, “Can I hold you, Dante?”
A single nod was the only answer I got. I carefully shifted so my front was lined up to his back and then I wrapped my arm around his chest. I ended up pinning his arms to his body as I surrounded him as best I could and when he didn’t struggle against me, I had to assume he was okay. But it was a long time before his body finally relaxed and that was only because he’d drifted off. I lay there for a really long time just savoring how right he felt pressed up against me and just the simple act of being around him reminded me that I could get through everything that had gone wrong today.
Because one thing had gone really, really right.
Now I just had to figure out how to make that the norm, not the exception.
Chapter Thirteen
Dante
The morning breeze felt good against my heated skin even though the temperature was only in the upper forties. The weather had been cooperative ever since we’d arrived in Texas, but dark gray-blue clouds had rolled in overnight so I knew that streak was about to be broken. Luckily, Magnus and I had gotten all the repairs on the outside of the house and around the property done, so the impending rain wouldn’t cause any harm. At worst, it would mean spending a day stuck indoors.
Which considering everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours would have been conducive to torture because there was no way I could spend an entire day cooped up in the house with Magnus. I wouldn’t even make it five minutes around the man at this rate.
Fortunately, unlike last night, I’d come to my senses this morning and I’d called a cab to take me to the airport. I’d already gotten the all clear from Memphis to leave after I’d briefed him on the events of the previous day in regards to the trial. I hadn’t told him about the humiliation Magnus had been forced to endure as his past had been exposed for all the world to see, but Memphis had agreed with me that since Magnus’s part in the trial was over, there was no longer any threat to him.
So, there was no reason for me to stay.
And a whole host of them for me to leave.
I settled my hand on my tapping leg in the hopes of quelling my anxiety. What I really wanted was a cigarette, even though I hadn’t smoked in years.
I hated that I was running away like the coward I was, but I had nothing left in me. No, Magnus had stripped me of everything as surely as he’d claimed my body yesterday. He’d taken the last of my pride when he’d flung his cruel words at me about not being able to deal with me and then he’d taken the last of my defenses when he’d admitted he wanted me. There’d been no satisfaction in knowing my initial instincts that he’d been attracted to me from the get go had been right. I hadn’t cared in the least about that as he’d admitted to being jealous of all the people I’d been with – I’d only felt shame at knowing he’d seen me with those other people and disbelief that he’d wanted me even then.
But that was nothing compared to the bone deep pain I’d felt when I’d initially believed that he was just toying with me…coming up with the perfect way to punish me for the many times I’d needled him. He’d found my weakness and exploited it and he’d somehow figured out that all my comments about wanting him had been the truth cloaked in false bravado. I’d wanted to die in that moment as he’d said the things I’d wanted to hear. His words had been like a mortal wound on my soul, and for only the second time in my life, I’d done something I’d sworn to myself I would never do again…I’d begged.
He’d ripped me open so wide that my only defense against his lie had been the truth.
Except he hadn’t lied.
I knew that now without a shadow of a doubt.