Page 33 of The Lies We Believe

“This is one of my favorite places to come to think,” Bane said, the low resonance vibrating through me. “I love being surrounded by nature, leaving all the shit that comes with my job behind, and just feeling like I can breathe for once.”

I slid my hands over his where they rested on my thighs and squeezed them, letting him know I’m here, as if it was something I did every day. Bane might be intimidating with his tall, broad, and dark form and strength enough to crush bone, but he was the sweetest, most caring person I’d ever met. He was a bleeding heart, open and honest to anyone who would give him the time of day. I was so glad his job hadn’t made him closed off and jaded. He needed someone to protect him, who would nurture this side of him, who would cultivate it and allow it to grow. Bane deserved to be loved wholly, truly, with every beat of someone’s heart, and that person could never be me.

The tip of my tongue wet my lips. “I-it’s…peaceful.” Every letter burned as I forced it out, but I did it for him.

Bane hummed in acknowledgement. He spread his fingers so mine slipped between them and held on tight, like I might float away if he stopped touching me. His heart hammered against me, mirroring the chaotic beat of my own. A small smile flickered around my mouth as tears pooled in my eyes and the beautiful view before us wavered. I swallowed down my emotions and blinked away my tears before they fell.

This felt like goodbye. A dream that I would wake up from.Please, please let me never wake up.

The longer we sat, the less meaning time held. The rest of the world slipped away and became nothing but a shadow. Clouds passed over the lake as reality shifted and we created our own.Wrapped in his arms, I relaxed into him, listening to stories from the years we were apart. How even though the Hendrix’s were perfect on paper, they were nothing compared to the parents he lost, because they were searching for something in him they would never find. He wasn’t the son they lost. The more he told me, the more my heart hurt for him, and I couldn’t allow myself to fall deeper in l?—

“I thought about you often, you know,” he said earnestly. “I wondered where you were, who you had become. When I turned eighteen and had left the Hendrix’s to start my training, I called Mrs. Wilkinson, but she said she hadn’t seen you in years. That she’d tried to keep tabs on you, but after Elise left, no one would tell her anything.”

I shrugged, because what could I say to that?Oh, by that time I was on the streets, dumpster diving and turning tricks to get the occasional hot meal? That I was that close to giving up, that I prayed I’d die in my sleep and have done so every night since then?No, I couldn’t. He already knew enough to haunt him for a lifetime.

After we shared a small picnic, we sat with our legs overhanging the bluffs like kids, creating memories we wished we could have when we were younger. When the wind picked up, whipping up the waves on the lake, we packed up and headed back to the bike.

This time, when Bane sat on the bike, he pulled me on so I was facing him, my legs draping over his thighs. My breath hitched as his large hands cupped my face, pushing back the strands of hair covering my eyes.

“Thank you for today, River.”

I looked up at him in confusion and arched my brow. Thank you? Had he hit his head on a rock? Nerves niggled in my gut, and I picked at the scab on my thumb as tension licked my shoulders.

“I know it wasn’t easy.” He licked his lips with the tip of his tongue, my eyes following it like disciples. “Thank you for trusting me, for opening up to me.” I sniffed, my throat feeling tight. “Thank you for trusting me to be there to take care of you.”

I shook my head, breaking free of his intoxicating hold. I couldn’t think straight when he was touching me. His magic fingers short wired my brain. My arms formed a wall between us as they crossed over my chest, while that alarm blared in my head.Run. Run. Run, before he gets too attached.It was becoming difficult to breathe. I couldn’t feel the icy wind howling through the trees. My fingers sunk into the soft leather, desperate for something to hold on to. Darkness drifted like smoke across my eyes as thunder rumbled above us in the clouds.

“River.” Bane’s hands sunk into my hair and pulled tight, anchoring me to him. “Fight it,” he growled. “Don’t let your mind win. Stay with me. Fight. Please fight.”

Static rang in my ears as he started to be swallowed by the smoke. Inhales and exhales sawed in and out of my lungs. The tenderness in his eyes was too much, his sweet, gentle touch suffocating. The emotions flowing across his face made this all too real, and it could never be more than this.

It could never be real.

“You’re worth fighting for, River.”

No. I shook my head and sunk my teeth into my bottom lip to hold back the whimper building in my chest.No, I’m not. Why can’t you see?

“You are, River. You deserve to be happy.”

No! That’s a lie!A thick teardrop slipped from my eye, searing my skin. Bane sucked in a stuttering breath and caught it on his thumb, brought it to his lips, and kissed it like he could breathe life back into me. My heart did a backflip in my chest, and my resolve crumbled like a house of cards built onquicksand. My hand shot up to my throat, fingers digging into flesh, pulling at the invisible rope that was wrapped around it as I gasped, lungs starved for oxygen.

“I will prove to you that you are.” Bane closed the distance between us, his thumb gently stroking my cheek bone.

It was heaven and hell. I was trapped in purgatory with everything I wanted right in front of me, everything I could never have. I was like an addict being offered a hit of crack.

When his lips met mine, I whited out. His tongue traced the shape of my mouth, making me gasp. Waves of electricity flowed through me as his tongue wrapped around mine, tasting, teasing, owning me. He kissed like I was the first drop of rain after a drought. He kissed me like he’d been made to worship me. I felt every minute movement of his fingers as they flexed in my hair, positioning me so he could deepen the kiss.

I was drowning in him. His cedarwood and leather scent saturated me as his mouth stole the air from my lungs, pushing me to the brink before kissing life back into me. His touch tried to reform me as I broke and shattered under his ministrations. Tears poured down my cheeks as I felt cherished. Wanted. Needed.

I felt like I was dying, because nothing real was ever this good.

Bane kissed me as the wind whipped around us, and every thought left my mind. Tension eased in my muscles, and I melted into him as he tried to fuse our bodies together like he wanted to get under my skin and hold my heart in the palm of his hands.

My arms wrapped around his neck, my legs wrapped around his hips, our chests touching as we shared oxygen with each stroke of our tongues. Bane’s hands coasted down my back to my ass, his fingers sinking into the globes, kneading the needy flesh trapped in my pants. I bit his lip, making him groan as he rockedme against him. His thick length was like steel against me with every upward thrust. I needed to stop this before he regretted it, regretted me.

But I was drowning in him, and I found it hard to care. Thick drops of rain fell from the sky, heightening every touch, every taste, every sensation he elicited from me. I’d never been kissed like this. I’d never been kissed by another man. Fuck! Thunder cracked above us, booming like a shockwave, making the bike shake beneath us. Bane pulled back from me, wild and frantic, his lustful eyes nearly black as they darted all around us.

“Shit. Fuck,” he gritted out and clenched his jaw, scrubbing his hand over his face like he needed to wipe me off him before I tainted him with my venom.

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