Page 66 of Sweet Revenge

“Taking down that club will save a lot of innocent people.” he defended.

“I agree. I think you guys should use whatever you have and end their reign, but saving me, saving those other women, won’t bring her back.”

His jaw hardened. “I know that, Maggie. I accepted her death a long time ago. I also accepted I was too young to save her, but I’m old enough now to make sure he pays for every last sin.”

I smiled sadly. “I don’t want to be your revenge prize.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Do you really believe you are?”

I dropped my arms and shrugged. “I don’t know what I am to you now. I thought I was finally understanding it, but hearing your story makes me wonder if you’re just trying to save me to heal yourself.”

He studied me hard, and the intensity of his gaze burned through me. When he spoke, his voice was full of anger. “Are you fucking kidding me, Maggie?” He took a step toward me. “I’ve done everything I know to show you what you mean to me.”

“I don’t understand what that all means, Gunner.” I raised my voice, feeling for the first time that I was completely safe stating my opinion and doing it loudly. “And you don’t tell me. You just do nice things, but you don’t say anything, so I don’t know what to do with any of it. Sometimes I worry I’m here because I’m still an obligation to you.”

“You are not an obligation, Maggie, to me or the others, but you are our responsibility, and you’re going to have to accept that.”

I jerked back. “I don’t accept that. I don’t want to be a responsibility to anyone, especially you.”

He took another step toward me and lowered his voice to a growl. “I’ve had to accept you’re in love with another man, so I think you can accept this.”

My eyes widened. “You think I’m in love with Snake?”

He jerked his head back. “Snake? Fuck no, I don’t think that.”

I threw my arms out to the side. “Then who?”

He took another step, but I felt no fear. I felt strong and capable, and more than anything, I felt safe. “Don’t pretend you don’t have feelings for Luke, Maggie. Christ, you told me you don’t feel for me what you feel for him.”

Luke. He was talking about Luke. I should’ve realized that. I should’ve known from the looks he sent Luke when I was around or the way he reacted when Luke hugged me, but I hadn’t. Until recently, I hadn’t understood any of it, my feelings included.

“I don’t,” I admitted honestly, knowing this was going to be a conversation that neither of us might be ready for but needed to have.

He put his hands on his hips and dropped his head, but not before I saw hurt flash through his eyes. He shook his head and started to move past me toward the door. “I need to go.”

I grabbed his arm before he could completely pass me. “Gunner.”

He stopped walking, but wouldn’t look at me. I stared at the side of his face and spoke. “I don’t feel the same way…”

“Stop.” He bit out. “I know, Maggie, okay? I know.”

I tugged on his arm until he looked at me. “Will you listen to what I’m saying?”

He held my stare for a moment before he tipped his chin up, acknowledging he would listen, but he couldn’t hide the pain in his eyes. “When I said that to you, I meant it.” He closed his eyes, but I turned my body so we could stand chest-to-chest and continued speaking. “But not in the way you think. I meant I couldn’t understand what I felt for you because it didn’t feel the same.”

I was thrilled when he opened his eyes and stared into mine. He needed to see the truth in them while he heard the words. “I feel nervous with you, but in an exciting way. I want you to hold my hand and kiss me and…” I pushed a piece of hair behind my ear and felt a blush working its way up my neck. “Well, more, and that isn’t anything I ever wanted from a man before, including Luke. He was my friend when I had no one, and I realized I made that friendship more in my mind because I needed it to hold onto something. He was like a raft in the middle of the ocean, my only hope of surviving, and for a short time, he became my everything. Jack pointed that out to me, but he’d been talking about Snake. How I clung to him to save myself, and I realized when talking to Jack that I’d done the same thing with Luke.”

I reached up and laid my palm against his cheek. “But that all changed with you. I understand the difference in my feelings now, thanks to Lisa and Becs. I didn’t before so I couldn’t explain it to you like I should have.”

“Explain it to me now.” His voice was raspy when he spoke.

I smiled shyly and dropped my hand to his chest. “You make me feel when I was numb for so long, refusing to feel anything. Maybe I was protecting myself, I don’t know, but then you blasted your way into my life and demanded things of me, things I was scared of or intimidated by because I was afraid of the consequences if I failed.” He ran his hand up my side and watched me patiently. “You make me feel like a survivor, not a victim, not the pathetic shell of a person Snake convinced me I was. You make me feel like my opinion matters, and you give me choices without any pressure or fear that I’ll make one you don’t like.”

“You are a survivor, baby,” he said gently. “And there will never be a time as long as I’m breathing that you’ll be forced to survive alone.”

I pushed in closer to his body, not even a breath of space between us, and tried to say the words that scared me the most. “Becs thinks I love you.”

He put his hands on my hips and squeezed. “And what do you think?”

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