Page 72 of When Hearts Awaken

“Calm down, Taylor. That’s not what I’m saying at all. Stop twisting my words.” I close my eyes and exhale because in this moment, I just want to shake her to get her to understand the ramifications. “I’m only suggesting you ask Maddy what happened. She’s safe right now. She’s not in the room with these two men. That’s what you’re worried about, right? It makes no sense for you to burn your bridges on the most important tour of your life and get in the crosshairs of someone dangerous and powerful in the city.”

Her chest heaves, her eyes wild, but she slowly deflates as my words take root.

“Ask Maddy,” I whisper, still aware of the two men in the room, “and if they did something to her, I promise you, I won’t let that go. I’ll do whatever it takes to dole out the punishment they deserve.”

Taylor still doesn’t speak, her gaze snared on mine. Her breathing is loud as her lips tremble. She shakes her head, strings of nonsensical words slipping from her mouth. “I can’t let them… No, she has her future ahead of her. Maybe I’m looking at her and s-seeing my—” She swallows, not finishing her sentence, but she doesn’t need to.

Herself.She was seeing herself before her trauma in Maddy. The grief and anguish in her voice are unmistakable.

Tears slowly well in her eyes and the same ache I felt when I saw her look at Grace at the wedding comes back tenfold. Desperation burns through me and every muscle in my body tightens. The sight of her splitting at the seams is unbearable. The pain she’s holding in, a dark well I assume runs very deep, is overflowing, and I’d do anything in my power to stop it.

“I promise you, Taylor. You aren’t alone in this.”Not anymore.

Tremors appear in her body, her breathing ragged and tortured. She’s staring at me with those beautiful, watery dark eyes, like she’s imploring me to save her.

She clutches my arms tightly, fingers digging into my sleeves, and her face crumbles.

A lone tear slips down her cheeks. Followed by another, and another.

My heart lodges in my throat as pain stabs me in the chest.

The sight of her tears unmoors me.

I want to destroy whoever caused her this unspeakable agony. Whoever flayed this warrior with their weapons and left her with permanent scars.

I hear the faint sounds of the men leaving the room, but I don’t care, because the woman in my arms is unraveling. Deep sobs wrench from her throat as more tears slip out, the liquid melting the liner from her eyes into rivulets of black.

Rivers of darkness streaking down the pale ivory of her skin.

“You’renotalone,” I say again, my voice rough. Unable to help myself, I hold her trembling frame tightly in my arms, wishing I could take an ounce of her pain away.

I’d do anything to make her happy again.

Anything to hear her snarky comments and to see the fire in her eyes.

Anything to turn back time and prevent the bastard from hurting her.

Her sobbing soon slows, her tears no doubt making a mess of my tux, but I don’t care.

Slowly, she lifts her face away from my chest, her face a painting of black against white—of her grief against her strength.

“I must look like shit,” she whispers, the wispy moonlight lovingly caressing her face.

“Never,” I rasp, my heart pounding out of my chest. My thumb lightly grazes her cheek, swiping away at the evidence of her pain. “You’re breathtakingly beautiful.”

Taylor’s breath hitches, her lips parting. She looks astonished, like she can’t believe I think she’s beautiful.

“Roses are much more beautiful with thorns,” I murmur, emotion clogging my voice.

She inhales another sharp breath, her nostrils flaring, and a second later, she pulls my head down and crushes her lips against mine.

Chapter 31

Charles freezes for asecond before his body leaps into motion. He snakes his arms around my back and tugs me flush against him as his mouth pillages mine.

Here in this private alcove, with the lonely moonbeam as our only witness, I want to forget.

About the darkness in my past or the uncertainty in my future.

---