Page 73 of Bastian

“I won’t.” My voice rises, and I hate how she cowers and then tries to mask it. Lowering my voice, I look into her eyes. “Words aren’t enough. I am aware of this and I don’t expect you to believe me, but I hope my actions, from now on, prove to you that I don’t ever intend to keep you from Ellaiza. You might have not been with her physically these past three years, but you were always in her heart. I made sure of that.”

“Why?” she whispers, suddenly seeming so vulnerable and young. So much like she used to be. Soft for us only, my ice queen. “Why did you do it? You said she would forget me eventually. What changed your mind?”

“I never intended to erase you from her life. Was I a dumb fuck, yes? Did I lie? I did. But what I did not do was erase the woman who made our world so much sweeter.”

“I hate you.” Her voice trembles.

“And I love you, darling.” I breathe out, smiling like a fool.

“You don’t, Sebastian, because your love hurts, and love is not supposed to hurt.”

Leaning forward, I forget the game in front of me and focus on the part of my beating heart out of my chest. Her. “Real love does, baby,” I whisper back. “It hurts and sometimes drives us to make stupid mistakes, but it withstands everything we throw at it.” Shrugging, I grin when I watch her eyes fall to my lips. “Ours can withstand anything.” Her eyes snap back to mine, angry, hurt, confused, and loving. Because she can’t hide from me and I see it. I see her. I always have. How could I not if she’s all that’s good and bright in my world next to my daughter? “I do not love you, Sebastian.” My smirk widens and has her snapping at me. “I don’t.”

“Liar.” I lean closer until I’m able to grab her by the back of the neck and pull her closer to me. “It has always been you for me. It will always be us. We’re each other’s beginning, each other’s end.” Then I take her lips in mine, kissing her with all the love, hurt, and need that’s been suffocating me for so long. She resists me at first, pushing at my chest where my heart beats for her.

Where my ink bleeds for her.

I find tattoos grotesque and common. Two things I am not, yet here I am, with ink on me. All because of her. She is inked on my skin, marking me, claiming me just as she claimed my heart, making me forever hers.

Because the tattoo on my ring finger is not the only one. I also have the one on my chest that I got with her in mind hidden by my shirt.

Arianna’s lips on mine feel like I’ve been condemned to both heaven and hell.

A perfect way to describe my woman.

Heaven and hell.

Ninety percent devil and twenty percent angel.

Perfection.

Magic.

Always has been and always will be.

But that magic soon ends when she rips her mouth from mine, growling like a wounded animal. Standing, she towers over me, fuming but also tripping on her words, letting me know the kiss affected her just as much as it did me. “Don’t.” Hands clenched at her side, nostrils flaring, she looks down at me, sending daggers straight to my heart with how lost she looks. Fuck. “Don’t ever do that again. I am not for you! Never again.” She turns her back to me, and fuck if it does not hurt, but not even that can deter me from loving this woman. A better man would step back and not push her, ease slow her into this new reality, but I’ve proven time and time again that I’m not and will never be the better man. I am just a man madly in love and disturbingly obsessed with this woman. A woman who hates me. The moment she reaches the Red Room’s door, she twists the knob, opening but before she exits the room, she looks over her shoulder at me. Hurt. Hurt and so angry, but there’s love there, too.

And that’s why I keep pushing her because, as long as love shines in her eyes, there’s hope for me. For us.

For a future that I thought would never be within my reach. Until her.

Until Arianna.

“And stop talking to the media as if you love me. You’re only making things worse for yourself.” She spits but her words come out unsure.

Leaning back on the seat, I reach for the half-empty glass of whiskey and take a sip, needing the burn at this instant. “I’m just telling my truth, darling, and the public deserves the truth, do they not?”

“Bullshit.” She hisses.

Smiling, I snap. “Watch your mouth.”

“Oh, fuck you, Sebastian.”

Laughing, I place the glass back down on the table. “You know, I love the way you say my name.”

“You’ve gone mad.”

“I have, Arianna. I’m mad for you.” I can’t see her face because, from this distance, the darkness has obscured it from my view, again but I can only imagine her pretty face twisted in fury.

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