“Is that what you think?” She bit her lip.
“I recognize that look. Yours is not the first face I’ve seen it on. I see it on the face of any person who knows the truth about me.”
“Talon, sit up. Sit up and look at me.”
I did as she asked. I sat up on the air mattress and faced her.
She shook her head. “No, damn it. I mean look at me. Really look at me.”
I didn’t know what she was asking. “I am looking at you. You’re beautiful. But I hate the fact that I caused you tears.”
She grabbed me by the shoulders, something she’d never done before. Then she cupped my cheeks and brought her forehead to mine. “Damn it, Talon. What you see in my eyes is not pity. These tears are not tears of pity. These tears are for a ten-year-old little boy who went through hell and came out of it. These are tears of sadness for what that little boy went through and tears of joy for the man he became—the man I love more than anything.”
“I was so afraid to tell you.”
“Why?”
“I thought you might—” I swallowed the lump clogging my throat. “I thought you might turn away from me.”
She pulled back a ways. “How could you think that? How could you think so little of me? Don’t you believe in the love I have for you?”
I let out a sigh. “Maybe at first I didn’t. But I do now, Jade. I believe in your love for me. And I believe in my love for you. You’re the reason I…”
“What?”
I drew in a breath and let it out slowly, bracing myself, preparing for the words I needed to say to her. “You, Jade. You know how I tried to get my ass blown off while I was over in Iraq?”
“Yes.”
“When I met you, when I realized there was someone in the world like you, I was really glad I hadn’t been killed. I wanted to live. For you. For Joe and Ryan and Marj. And most of all, blue
eyes, for me. You helped me see that my life still had worth, that it was worth trying to work through all the crap that I’ve gone through. Because you deserve the best. You deserve a man who is not broken. And blue eyes, if it takes me the rest of my life, I am going to heal. I’m going to heal so I can be the man you deserve.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Jade
My heart was breaking. Talon didn’t need my pity. He’d said as much. Now, everything he’d ever said, everything he’d ever done since we first met made so much sense. My beautiful man. I ached for the little boy he was, to have his innocence stolen in such a horrific and violating way.
But he was here. And he was mine. And goddamnit, I would see that he got through this.
“What are you thinking, blue eyes?”
“I’ll be honest. I have a lot of questions. Not just about what you’ve been through but about your life, your therapy. But I don’t want to push you. I want you to tell me things when you’re ready to tell me.”
“I’ve told you everything. Everything that I remember. I seem to come up with new stuff in therapy all the time. But I am surprised you haven’t asked about a few things.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“The phoenix tattoo. And the missing little toe.”
I gasped. I had been so shaken up by Talon’s story that I hadn’t put two and two together yet. No wonder he was so interested in Nico Kostas and Larry Wade. He thought they were two of his attackers.
“Oh my God, Talon. I’m so sorry.”
“What do you mean?”
“I almost got that tattoo.” I burst into tears. “Oh my God, what if Marjorie hadn’t called that night? What if I had that thing permanently fixed on my body? Oh, God. Oh my God.”