Page 121 of Fool Me Twice

“I need you,” Hart begged, and just like that, his sore wrists were wrapped in Cane’s strong hands, the kiss broken completely.

“I need you too, but…”

Hart felt cold and frozen over, like one knock would shatter him all over the floor. He pulled his hands away and Cane let them go easily. It made the sadness in his chest deepen. The strangeness of wanting complete control of himself and wanting to give it to Cane, who didn’t seem to want it, played discordant notes in his chest.

“But…” Hart repeated dully.

“Not like this,” Cane said, grasping Hart’s chin to look into his eyes. “Not before we talk about things.”

Things. What an innocuous word to hold so much.

It meant their very future. Cane had said he’d want an answer by the end of the case. That was staring at them now, but Hart was unsure if Cane’s stance had changed. All the chaos that had surrounded them not just since the curse had appeared, but before then was a weight around their necks. A noose waiting to tighten.

Had Cane finally seen that, just when Hart had realized how much he wanted them forever?

“We can put it off until tomorrow if you’re not feeling great,” Cane continued into Hart’s silence. “That cursebreaking was fucking intense…”

“No.” Hart shook his head, dread filling him to the brim. There was no sense in dragging out the inevitable. “Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.”

The words tasted like ash on his tongue, but he was surprised by Cane’s amused snort as he stared at him with some unnamable emotion lifting the corners of his eyes and mouth.

“I missed you, sweetheart,” he said, and the nickname sent Hart’s mind into a spiral.

He was still sweetheart. There was still something of him left with Cane. Maybe he hadn’t completely ruined his life. Maybe…

“Keep me.”

“Keep…” Cane frowned, his eyes turning wide and incredulous.

Hart grasped Cane’s hand on his chin with both of his own hands, his heart drumming in his ears as he tried to breathe. “It’s the end of the case, and you said you wanted an answer. I’m making the decision. I’m…I want you to keep me. I want to have you too.”

Cane closed his eyes and dropped his hand to the bed. “You have no idea how long I’ve waited to hear that. Fuck, Hart. But…we need to talk first.”

Hart tried to move closer. “No—”

“You need to know the filthy details before you decide, sweetheart,” Cane said, keeping him at arm’s length.

“What could be worse?” Hart asked, frustration making his eyes water again. “You said you knew me, Cane. So how do you still think I’ll care about any of that?”

“Because it’s my fault you got cursed,” Cane said, digging his fingers into his knees as he stared at Hart, waiting for his reaction.

Hart opened and closed his mouth a few times.

“That’s ridiculous. The curse was hopping around somehow and landed on me. I don’t know how. I shouldn’t be susceptible to curses. But I know it wasn’t your fault. You didn’t choose it,” Hart said. “You’re not a caster.”

“But I killed the mother of one.”

Cane dropped the bomb, and Hart felt the echoes of the word like shrapnel in his flesh.

“Excuse me?”

Cane swallowed hard before nodding grimly. “I told you I was in jail before you and I first met.”

“That was for murder?” Hart asked heavily.

He knew Cane was into some shady things. He’d always been aware which side of the line Cane walked. But…

“No,” Cane said. “The other way around.”

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