Page 34 of Always You

“Just know that I’m here if you want to talk instead of fight.”

11

It’s as if my heart opens the moment the words leave her lips. As if the polluted air that has been surrounding my head since the accident cracks through like the sun bursting through a thick cloud. I can breathe for the first time. Her palms burn on the small of my back while I hold her head close to my body, and I settle my nose against her soft hair.

Just know that I’m here if you want to talk instead of fight.

There’s a need that plunges through my chest. It sets roots in my heart with a force that’s painful. The need to stay this way forever. The need to make her mine, knowing she deserves better than everything I am. Everything I can give her.

She deserves a prince charming for the rest of her life, and I’m nothing more than the villain. Because truthfully, there is not much that can scare me in this world anymore. I’ve lost too much to have anything left to be scared of.

But I’m scared for her.

Scared that I will never be able to let her go once I’ve had her, corrupting her more with every touch, every stroke, and every kiss.

I can’t do that.

I can’t be selfish when it comes to Charlotte.

So, instead, I push every longing thought away as I look up at the stars in the sky with emotions flooding the corners of myeyes. I’ve been doing this for the past weeks, and once again, I remind myself she’s my friend while I rest my chin on her head.

“If I do, it wouldn’t be anyone else, Charls.”

She untangles herself from my body, looking up at me with her bright eyes. The moonlight reflects in the green swirls even more illuminating than I’ve ever seen. They keep me hypnotized, the gravity of her pull slanting my vision until I’m locking onto her plump lips. They are slightly curled in the sweetest smile.

“Good. Let’s go.” She rushes me back to reality when she drags her hand over my stomach, tearing a moan from my throat that I try to muffle as much as I can before she moves herself past me to walk back to my truck.

Torture. Complete and utter fucking torture, but I can’t convince myself to walk away from her. I know I should. Eventually. But the primal roar in my heart at just the thought says it all. She holds it in her grasp without even knowing it.

“Wait, hold up.” I rapidly snatch her wrist to pull her back. “Can you keep this for me?”

She looks at the paper bag I’m holding up with confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Keep it somewhere safe.”

“What? No?” She takes the bag out of my hand, peeking inside, then looks back up to me with a broad gaze. “This is a lot of money. How much is this, anyway?”

“Five grand.”

“Five—What the fuck, no, you keep it.” She pushes the bag against my stomach, turning around and walking back to my car.

Dammit.

I quickly stalk behind her with big steps before I gently push her against the vehicle. With parted lips, she peers up at me through her lashes, and I realize the mistake I made when I put one hand above her head, caging her in with my torso. Theweight of her arousal is throwing me off, giving me a hard time to keep my mind straight. All that is on my mind is filth. My head thinking about how beautiful she would look on the hood of my car.

Naked.

Shut up, Hunt.

With my fingers pressed against her stomach to keep her in place, I give her a serious look.

“Charls, the day we met at the creek, my mom found my money. Twenty grand.” God, just the thought of it makes me wanna go back inside and ask Phil for another fight. It was my ticket out of here after graduation. It would give me the opportunity to rent something on the West Coast, doing as many fights as I can until the AFA picks me up. “It was what I had earned in these fights over the last year. She said it was about time I started paying rent. I was saving that for after graduation,” I reveal, the desperation etching through my voice. “To get the fuck out of here.”

She stays quiet, while a frown forms on her forehead, making the corner of my mouth curl a bit.She’s looks so gorgeous underneath the light of the moon.

“I really don’t like your mother,” she mutters with a scowl.

“You and me both, babe,” I agree, enjoying every second of her sass. “Please, just hold on to it for me?” I give her a pleading look, lowering my face to hers.

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