Page 82 of Newton

We're facing a lot of uncertainty, but we have to find the joy and normalcy where we can.

It was decided before Cerberus left Ohio, that Hemlock was going to spearhead the new chapter closer to the East Coast. He couldn't risk being seen traveling back with us.

We had a meeting, and it was discussed that despite the possibility that he might've been seen with us, Jericho found a list of businesses they can't make heads or tails of. Ace and his crew don't know if the places listed are trafficking women or if they've just been marked as easy places to pull women from.

Either way, Hemlock was headed to Tennessee to see what he could figure out, having to hit the ground running with very little time to prepare.

"I think I can be convinced to wait and watch it with you," Brielle whispers as she reaches for the hem of my t-shirt, pulling it over my head in the next breath. "I don't know that I'll ever get used to all the muscles. You work out and all these sexy veins show up."

A river of cold chills follows her fingers down my arms.

"I work out with you, and I just want to eat my weight in carbohydrates."

"You'll find a happy medium," I explain. "Plus, maybe you're eating for two."

I roll my hips, but she doesn't smile. Instead, she presses both of her palms to my chest and wiggles out from under me.

"No," I tell her when she gives me her back. "We're not doing this. You told me that I can be honest with you at all times."

"And I promised to try and not freak out."

"So you're freaking out?"

She shakes her head, looking down at me when I climb off the bed and settle at her feet.

"Talk to me," I urge.

Tears stain her cheeks before she's able to speak. I wipe them away with my thumbs, hating that she just can't let herself be loved. It makes me hate Nathan with the fire of a million suns.

"I can't have children."

I freeze at her words, not expecting them at all.

"Okay," I say quickly, maybe a little too quickly.

"I had a procedure done after leaving Ohio last year. I couldn't risk--"

I cup her face. "I know what was at risk. This changes nothing for me."

"You want babies," she says, on the verge of sobbing.

"I want you, baby."

Her eyes search mine, and I know there's a damaged part of her that is telling her she still can't trust me. I also know that I have enough faith in us to be strong when she can't be.

I press my lips to hers, urging her back and covering her body with mine.

"You won't change your mind?" she asks against my lips.

"Never," I vow.

"I'm going to need you to prove it," she says, and there isn't a hint of humor in her voice.

"I will," I promise, knowing with every cell in my body that I will die loving this woman. I can only hope that I get many, many years before that happens.

Her fingernails dig into my back when I press my mouth to hers, and I swallow down the moan that erupts from hers when I roll my hips against her center.

I pull away just enough so I can run my lips down her neck, nipping at the lobe of her ear before pressing a sweet kiss to the necklace at her throat. The blue topaz sparkles in the early afternoon sunlight coming in through the window. It was found left behind in the bathroom at the courthouse, and the way it was discarded, it felt like she gave up the very last piece of me she had, but I now know that she thought she had to walk away completely in order to have any hope of being safe. She couldn't take any part of me with her.

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