Page 36 of Rebel Hawke

“Fuck.” I wince because I understand that panic in her eyes. It’s the same I want to see in my opponents, the very thing I try to strike into their hearts. But I never want to see that in Wren’s dark gaze. “That’s different, Little Bird. Who I am in there”—I throw my thumb absently over my shoulder toward the gym—“and in the ring is not who I amoutsideof it. That’s a job, a role I have to play while I’m there…”

My words may not be getting through to her, may not be enough to counter the violent reaction she saw in me.

I cautiously move another few inches closer, hoping she won’t try to skitter away in either direction along the mirrored wall, but she stands her ground, tipping her chin up at me, demonstrating the tenacity I always remembered.

She may be scared, but she won’t ever back down, even in the face of fear.

And she should be afraid, just not of me.

There’s so much she doesn’t understand. So many things that have happened since she’s been gone that have changed everything—for me and for the Hawkes. Things she must know if I’m going to be able to keep her safe, especially now that she’s on Satriano’s radar.

Shifting closer still, I wait for her to recoil, but she doesn’t.

Thank fucking God.

Seeing that man in here with her, so close, with her so vulnerable, and having no idea how much danger she was in, was enough to make any restraint I had when it came to Wren snap.

I shouldn’t want her.

I shouldn’t touch her.

But I can’t help myself anymore.

I slide my hand across her cheek and tilt her chin up until her eyes lock with mine. They swim with uncertainty. The amber brown melting in a coppery pool that makes me want to dive right into it and do what I wanted to since the moment I first saw her here.

“I would rather die a million deaths than hurt you, Little Bird. I think about you all the time, every fucking minute since you’ve been back.”

“What?” Her brow furrows, her confusion deepening. “Don’t toy with me, Atlas.”

“There are a lot of things I want to do with you, Wren, but toy with you aboutthisisn’t one of them.” I brush my thumb over her soft cheek, just below those tears threatening to fall. “I’m pretty sure I’m obsessed with you, the way you’re always on my mind, even when you shouldn’t be. All I can think about is you when I should be concentrating on training.” I dip my head, enforcing the eye lock I hold with her. “I would never touch you in anger. Ever. And I’ll never lie to you.”

Her lips press into a firm line, then tip down into a scowl, and her gaze drifts to my left shoulder. “You’re lying aboutthat.”

Shit.

I clench my eyes shut for a moment, unable to look at her after she called me out so blatantly, the way no one else has had the balls to in all these months.

They sure as hell have danced around it and made insinuations, and Savage came pretty fucking close, but no one would ever call me a liar.

Not to my face.

Except Wren…

The little girl who never backed down from me back then still won’t today. No matter what I’ve accomplished. How many opponents I’ve beaten senseless in the ring.

I open my eyes and find her staring at me, waiting for me to respond. Unwavering. “I am lying about my shoulder because Ihaveto. But that’s different—”

She shakes her head, a single dark strand of hair falling from the high ponytail that holds the rest of it back. “No, it isn’t. You can’t stand here and tell me you won’t lie to me and expect me to believe you when I’ve seen how you’re lying to every other person in your life.”

Of course, she’s right.

I can’t expect her to trust me when no one else can…

When I can’t even trust myself anymore…

When my mind taunts me with violent nightmares and suffocating anxiety…

When my body revolts against me and refuses to do the one thing I’ve always relied on it to do well…

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