Page 28 of His Custody

Tears welled in her eyes and her voice shook like she was about to lose it. “I—I just wanted to feel something that wasn’tthat. It didn’t matter if it hurt or felt good but nothing felt good enough. I wanted to know I could feel something, that maybe, someday I’d be capable of feeling something other than empty, other than sad, other than hopeless.”

Her breath shuddered out and she put her head in her hands, her wet hair spilling forward around her face. “If I... if I feel like doing that again, will you tell me not to? I think I could stop, if you told me not to do it anymore. I don’t want to keep cutting myself, but I...”

He dropped to his knees in front of her, laying his hands on the outsides of her knees, offering her his solid warmth.I’m here. “I can do that.”

“I know youcan.” She sniffed, looking up at him through the curtain of her hair, sounding more like the stubborn Keyne he knew. “Tell me youwill.”

“I will, Tinker Bell. I will.”

His promise made, she pushed her hair back from her face. “Jas?”

“Yeah?”

“I know you’re busy—”

“I’m never too busy for you.”

“Can you talk to me for a while?”

“About anything in particular?”

She shook her head. “I don’t care.”

“Could I do it somewhere other than here, or is it important that I be on my knees?”

She laughed and rolled her eyes before taking up his hand and towing him over to the small couch in her sitting area. She pushed him back into the fluffy cushions and sat down beside him, worming her way under his arm and settling her head against his shoulder. His shirt was going to get wet, and he didn’t care.

Jasper told her about the deal he should have been negotiating, leaving that part out, and though he thought it would intrigue her about as much as watching paint dry, she asked him questions and seemed interested. After a while, her questions came farther apart and then stopped altogether. She’d fallen asleep, her deep even breaths misting hot on his chest, a spot of drool seeping through his shirt.

He maneuvered his phone out of his pocket without waking her, sent a few emails to the people he would’ve pissed off and then sat back, taking comfort in her ease until it got dark.

Chapter Ten

September

“No. Fuck you.”

He’d known she wouldn’t be thrilled about the idea, but he hadn’t quite imagined this. Probably he was a lunatic, as Keyne had called him a few minutes before. It’s possible he could’ve come up with a better way to introduce the idea that wouldn’t have resulted in her storming out of the library and to her room. Too late for that, it was time for damage control.

“Keyne—”

“Did I stutter? Go to hell, there’s no way.”

He fought to keep his hands by his sides instead of scrubbing them through his hair. This girl was maddening. Had he been this insensible as a teenager? He didn’t think so, but then again he’d probably been off making even more trouble while their parents had been dealing with toddlers Gavin and Keyne. She’d been as stubborn then, too.

“Look. I think this will help.”

“And I think you can shove it.”

Had she talked this way to Bill and Marcy? He couldn’t dig up any memories of it if she had, but then again, they’d been indulgent parents. He’d always enjoyed that about his own parents growing up, but now he questioned their wisdom. Also, how was it Gavin had been a happy-go-lucky puppy dog and Keyne had turned into a hellcat?

Again, he thudded his head against her bedroom door. “Can we talk about this, please? Like rational people?”

When the door flew open, he nearly fell into her room, but caught himself in time, and there she was, looking like an enraged fairy. Not the cute ones, either. The ones that were said to wreak havoc on human lives. Well, she’d certainly wreaked havoc on his.

“I will discuss this like a rational person when you treat me like one, instead of a small child.”

Right, because you’re definitely not acting like a child at this very goddamn second.Luckily, he was far back enough from the frame she didn’t hit him with the door when she slammed it in his face.

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