Page 63 of Wicked Waters

“I’m so fucking proud of you, baby,” Roman murmured, his hands gently stroking up and down my back as everything hit me all at once. The nightmare was over. It was truly over. A sob caught in my throat, and I squeezed my eyes shut, biting down on my lip. Roman kissed my temple so softly. “It’s okay. You’re okay. I’ve got you.”

I cried into his shirt as he held me, murmuring soft words into my ear, holding me like he’d never let me go. When I finally managed to compose myself, I looked up at him, and he smiled, brushing his thumbs under my eyes, chasing away the last of my tears.

“There’s my girl.”

“Roman.” It was all I could say.

A throat cleared next to us. “I believe this is yours.”

I turned to see Elena holding out a golden laurel wreath with a small smile on her face.

“I can’t take that. I didn’t?—”

“It’s yours, Quinn. You won it fair and square. It should have always been yours.” Her smile widened. “Put it on, and let’s get back to the ball and show everyone the goddess you are.”

“But I look…” I trailed off. I’d been more or less attacked and then had a prolonged crying fit.

“Baby.” Roman smoothed my hair down. “You look beautiful.”

“And I have a few things here that might help,” Elena interjected, directing my attention to the table where a small selection of make-up was arranged on the edge—a powder compact, eyeliner, and lipstick.

My brows rose. “Where did all that come from?”

“Knox’s pockets.” She grinned at me. “I didn’t want to bring a bag, and my boyfriend was nice enough to help me out.”

It was then that I realised Knox and Penelope had disappeared. “Where is Knox, anyway?”

“Dealing with Penelope.” Elena led me to the table, where she fixed my make-up and finger-combed my waves. When that was done, she picked up the laurel wreath. “Roman?”

Roman remained silent, and when I glanced over at him, he was staring at my arm with his jaw clenched and his brows pulled together. I took a step towards him, and he raised his hand, carefully tracing his finger down my arm.

“She hurt you.”

Following his gaze, I noticed the red lines where Penelope had scraped her nails down my skin. “They’ll fade. She hurt me a lot worse than that, even though the rest wasn’t physical,” I said honestly, and he growled under his breath, a muscle ticking in his jaw.

“I’m going to do every-fucking-thing I can to make sure she pays for all the ways she hurt you. Every single one.”

“I know you will.” Reaching up, I slid my hand around the nape of his neck, pressing a kiss to his jaw.

“Starting with going back to the ball and taking your rightful place as one of the goddesses.” Elena held the laurel wreath out, and this time, Roman took it.

“What about your parents?”

I shook my head. “I’ve made my peace with the fact they’ll see the video or, at the very least, hear about it. It’s been broadcast to the entire school, after all. I think we can spin the narrative so they decide not to take action against you, at the very least. Especially when I tell them how you discovered the evidence of what Penelope was up to. Not to mention the fact that the entire time everything was happening, you were constantly looking out for me and making sure I was okay.”

Roman stared at me. “What do you mean, broadcast to the entire school?”

“That was Tristan’s idea. Actually, the whole plan was mostly his idea. If he managed to succeed in his part of the plan, which I’m sure he did, he and Aria were going to commandeer the projector and broadcast my confrontation with Penelope to the entire ball as it happened.”

“That devious fucker.” Roman shook his head, a disbelieving smile curving over his lips. “Fucking hell, Quinn, the pressure you must’ve been under to get her to confess.”

“I know. I didn’t even know if I’d be able to pull it off or if she was even involved with the drink spiking, but I had to try. And it worked. It really worked.”As Roman lifted the wreath, carefully placing it on my head, I smiled. “I’m not going to rub it in my parents’ faces, and I’m not going to purposely piss them off, but I am going to explain what I’ve been dealing with, and I’m going to make sure they understand just how amazing you are.”

His throat worked as his lashes lowered, his gaze meeting mine. Tugging me into his arms, he pressed a kiss to my hair. “You’re the amazing one. I don’t deserve you.”

“You do deserve me, and I hope I deserve you,” I whispered.

“How could you even ask that? You deserve everything.” We drew apart, and he sighed loudly, although the grin he couldn’t bite back ruined the effect he was aiming for. “I guess since Knox isn’t here, I’ll carry all your make-up shit, Elena.”

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