That kiss was my choice.
But this choice is hers.
And I know she’ll make the right one.
The gun shakes in her hand as she looks me in the eyes, tears staining hers. Her lip begins to quiver as she holds the gun for dear life.
But I’m not scared of death.
Not if it’s by her hands.
“Do it,” I say, cornering her further and further against a tree until there’s no way out.
She shakes her head, barely able to hold on to the gun as it presses into my chest. “Stop.”
“If you don’t kill me now … I won’t be able to stop, Jas,” I say, planting both hands against the tree behind her. “So do it. End your suffering now … before this monster takes the last thing you weren’t willing to give.”
The gun trembles against my chest, her eyes filled with despair. And I wonder if my time has finally come.
But then the gun tumbles from her hand and she wraps her arms around my neck and presses her lips to mine.
Chapter 31
Jasmine
* * *
I’m tired of fighting, tired of always resisting the urge …
The urge to be his.
To love him as he is.
To let him take that part of me I thought belonged to no one.
But my heart was always his, even if I didn’t know it yet.
The second he told me his true feelings for me, all the struggles I’ve dealt with for years suddenly vanished into thin air. Even if I know he’s a monster for trying to kill my sister, I still can’t stop myself from falling for the beast. And I’d be lying to myself if I said I could kill him.
I simply cannot.
So I kiss him with everything I have left to give.
“What are you doing?” he murmurs as my lips unlatch from his, but his eyes are still closed. “You should’ve killed me.”
“I can’t,” I say, completely drinking him in. “Even though I know I should.”
“You definitely should,” he says, eyes opening just a sliver, a hint of arousal sparkling inside them. He grabs my face and presses his lips to mine, claiming them like they always belonged to him. When he pauses, he says, “I’m the monster who tried to kill your sister, remember?”
“Maybe I don’t want to remember that monster,” I murmur.
He grins against my lips, but follows it up with a devastatingly sexy lick against the seam of my mouth. “No … I’ll make you remember the real me instead.”
Liam
* * *
All these years I’ve waited for the memories to return, but it turns out all I needed was her.