Page 125 of The Penalty

“Then tell me. You started to once before. I really wish you trusted—” I stopped talking and squeezed my eyes shut. Shit. “I shouldn’t have said that. I know you trust me. I’m sorry.”

Processing all of this after the day I’d had and at this late hour gave me a splitting headache. Granted, I needed Xavier to answer so many more questions about a number of things but I don’t want him to spiral out of control again. The timing, as usual, was the worst. He should be asleep.

“Don’t you have a game in a few hours?” Maybe changing the subject will dissolve all this tension.

He dismissed my concern with a single shake of his head. “No. Not until Sunday. And even if we did, I’ve competed in matches on less sleep than this.”

Okay. Not asking about that right now.

The lighting was so dim in the room it shadowed his tired expression. “Are you at least in bed?”

“No. I’m at Bennet’s.” He sounded less than thrilled about that.

“In the library?”

“Yeah.” His piercing gaze burned through the screen. “I wish you were here with me. I really need you, Tori.”

The flare of emotion encasing every word sliced through my chest, piercing an inner shield I didn’t know existed. Maybe it was the late hour or the intense rush of concern I felt when he was so panicked. But this feeling? Utter fucking chaos.

Controlling my wild pulse was impossible.

“I’m with you as much as I can be.” Not sure how I got those words out.

“Stay with me on the phone so we can keep talking until one of us falls asleep.”

If I thought my feelings descended into chaos moments ago, I was so, so wrong. The noticeable tremble in his voice destroyed me.

I was not expecting his guard to collapse this way.

“Okay. Do you need to see me or is just hearing me enough?”

He smiled. “Put the phone down on something so you’re comfortable. I’m not going make you hold it up.”

“And you?”

“I’m putting you on the couch next to me.”

I laid my phone on the pillow and snuggled under the blankets.

“All tucked in, city princess?”

Hearing his voice so close, yet knowing he was so far filled me with an intense longing. What I wouldn’t give to have him right here.

“I am, country prince.”

“You know that’s not what I am.”

“Right. You’re a gentleman.”

He remained quiet for so long I thought he’d fallen asleep. Good. The man needed rest. He’d never admit he was mortal.

“I’m not even that sometimes, love.” Every ounce of air vibrated with an electric charge at the sound of his soothing, gentle tone. “The only thing I do know without question is I am undeniably in love with you. Nothing else matters.”

Victoria

The only thing I do know without question is I am undeniably in love with you. Nothing else matters.

Xavier’s words echoed in my head all day, including when I met the boys for dinner. Killian rambled on and on about his new job and meeting Jesse Rollins.

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