The guards left and shut the door.
Jean-Pierre hadn’t stopped watching me.
Shaking my head, I went to the bathroom, walked past him, and took a clean cloth from the shelf.
“Damn you, Jean-Pierre.” I did my best, to keep my voice calm, as I returned to him bringing the cloth to his face to stop the bleeding. “Don’t do that again. Don’t you ever do this again.”
Blood stained the white cloth.
I shook my head. “We’re going to have Dr. Martin—”
“Do you believe me now?” He hit me with an intense gaze.
“Yes.” I gritted my teeth.
“And do you understand?”
“Don’t cut yourself again! Not for me.”
He curved his mouth into a smile.
“Why are you grinning?” I held the cloth closer to the jagged lines as more blood seeped out. “This isn’t funny at all.”
His voice was raw with emotion. “Now you know what you mean to me.”
My heart clenched, so tightly, I thought I would pass out. I touched my chest. “Jean-Pierre, don’t—”
“Now you know that I would cut my face to heal yours.” Those brutal words emerged painful and needy. And as soon as they were out, his mouth was on mine. Searing and rough. Hungry and demanding.
He’s crazy. I’m crazy. We’re both crazy.
He swept the hair off my face, and I reached for his hand, kissing those big palms. Those wicked hands that helped him cut himself.
A violent intimacy rose between us. Fiercely sacred. Enveloping every cell. It moved around us. I could feel it in the air. Like one felt the spiritual energy rising in a church right before a holy ritual. This was our moment. Our ceremony. Our sacrament.
He took my hand from where I’d been holding the cloth and held it himself.
I looked at my hand. His blood stained my palm. And in some ways, it was purifying. Cleansing our souls, preparing us for the next.
Yes. I’m fucking crazy now. I’ll just have to embrace it.
Holding the bandage himself, he pulled me in with the other arm. “I’m sorry, reine.”
And all I could do, was shiver against this powerful, and unyielding man. His love would stand the test of time. Nothing could divide us. How had I forgotten? How had I let anything like fear, or the horror of the past days convince me of something else?
We’re in this forever.
It didn’t matter what we’d gone through. It didn’t matter what happened to his face or mine. Whether I could play the violin, or if he was rich? Whether I’d changed and he did. Whether we were toxic or completely functional.
We would remain, regardless of anybody’s opinions or actions. I’d stand by his side, and he would be there for me.
And everyone else can go fuck themselves.
This was love. The realest kind. The one that wasn’t dependent on the beauty of life. The sort of love that couldn’t bend from pressure, couldn’t dampen in the storm. Grounded. Fixed. No hurricane could uproot it.
How could I have been so stupid?
Jean-Pierre was like no other man. Not shallow or weak. He’d loved me from the beginning, before I knew him, before I knew myself. And he would love me forever.
No. We’re not normal at all.
Tears left my eyes. “I love you.”
“Don’t ever leave me.”
“I won’t.”
Dysfunctional relationships were ones that didn’t operate normal. They deviated from the norms of social behavior. There was nothing normal about us. We hadn’t begun like other couples, and we wouldn’t end like them either. But were we abnormal? Unhealthy?
He hadn’t put those scars on my face. He hadn’t made me lose my mind. He was just trying to help me, and he did so through blood. He did so by saving me. And when he had to tell me, that I never needed to worry about shallow things, he did it his way, through blood again.
What is normal anyway? I’ve been petting an invisible unicorn for days.
Jean-Pierre whispered, “I’m sorry, if I scared you.”
A long sigh left me.
For a second, Jean-Pierre stiffened. “I thought. . .you were leaving.”
“I won’t even think about it again.”
“Good.” He glared at me and growled, “You’re mine.”
The words vibrated through me. The wild truth blazed molten hot in his eyes. Piercing. Intoxicating. Woefully arousing. And I shifted to nothing but sensations, drowning within the intensity of him, every nerve awakened and stimulated.
In that moment, I surrendered.
I stopped fighting my fears and gave him all control.
If this isn’t normal, then I don’t want it. I want him. I want us. I want the bandages and all.
Chapter 28
Dominate Me
Jean-Pierre
I didn’t think I could fall in love with Eden anymore. But after hearing the news of her pregnancy, an overwhelming amount of love blossomed in my heart. She would be the mother of my child. Now she would have me more than anyone ever could.
Dr. Martin inspected the stiches on my face and then glanced over my shoulder at a scowling Eden. She was across the room with her hands on her hips.