Page 14 of 8-Bit & Cat

“Don’t move,” he reminded, voice silky yet commanding as his finger glided slowly over her chest, back and forth.

“Look at me,” he ordered quietly, his gaze hot as the sweep of his finger swept lower and lower with each pass.

Once she was locked in his gaze, she sat frozen, spine rigid as his finger slowed to a crawl at her breasts. The moment his touch found her nipple, she failed the test with a full-body jolt.

Zero eased back, his gaze still boiling on hers. “You lose,” he murmured, returning to his cocky recline on the lounge, hands behind his head. “How does defeat feel?”

Cat’s pulse was still galloping from that brief, electrifying touch. How did that even prove trust? “That was… reflex, not choice.”

Zero’s gaze sharpened, studying her carefully. He tilted his head as if noticing something new. “Tell me what you think pain is.”

The abstract question caused her stomach to twist. “It’s… a feeling. That hurts. Something people avoid. Usually.”

Zero’s hum wasn’t impressed. His gaze deepened as he returned to the space he’d occupied before, stiffening her spine. He took her wrist in one gloved hand and traced a line slowly up her forearm. “Pain is currency,” he said softly. “It’s how you pay for truth.” His green eyes lowered to her mouth. “How you earn trust.”

The words unsettled her in curious ways, crawling beneath her skin with the promise of rocking her tiny little world.

Omnis shifted subtly behind her, just enough to remind her he was still there, watching closely, observing everything.

Zero leaned closer, his eyes intense above the mask. “That’s how pain works with Ethan.”

His thumb brushed slowly down her arm, his gaze unwavering. “Pain is Ethan’s language. You give him safety and trust through it.”

Her heart pounded against her ribs, the words digging deeper under her skin.

“You hesitate because you doubt. But pain isexactlywhat makes him feel safe.” Zero gently but firmly pressed his fingertips against her pulse. “So, how about a test,” he whispered, voice dark and challenging. “Give me pain.”

Cat stared back breathlessly, realizing she was at the place she’d always dreaded arriving at. Giving pain. “I know that he wants pain,” she whispered, shakily. “But… how did we go from… trust to giving pain? Who is trusting who? With what? And why?”

“Ethan already gave you everything,” Zero whispered, his gaze almost fierce. “Hispain.Hiscontrol.Histrust.” He paused, letting her feel it. “It’s yours. He’s giving up his control and trusting you to give him pain.”

Her mouth worked with tangled protests. “I… I was able to understand that but… why?” she gasped. “Whypain?Why shouldhurtingbe something that makes him feel safe? Help me understand this.”

Zero hummed, an approving sound. “Because not all pain is the same.”

His thumb traced over her wrist in slow, deliberate circles. The motion was soothing. Which only made it worse.

“There are three kinds of pain,” he murmured. He stared at her wrist where he continued heating her skin. “Some pains break you.” His gaze moved up to hers, darker. “Some pains heal you.” His grip on her wrist tightened. Just enough for her to feel it. “And some pains ground you.”

Her stomach clenched as awareness sank in, too deep, too fast.

He let the words press into her. Let them settle in all the spaces she couldn’t run from. Then he added, “But Ethan needs something more.” His fingers tapped against her wrist. Soft. Rhythmic. Knowing. “He needs a special mix that only anangelcan give.”

The words slid under her skin, tangled in her ribs, wrapped around her throat.

Zero tilted his head. Slowly. Watching her unravel.

“The ghosts that haunt him,” he whispered. “The ones he can’t escape… the ones that live in his head.” The fire in his green eyes simmered on her. “When they come for him… what do you think happens?”

Her chest tightened.

“He drowns.”

Those words nearly suffocated her with the need to protect him.

His head shook slowly. “Andnoone is strong enough to pull him out. No one but you.”

The words sliced through her, clean and deep as her lips parted, airless, soundless.

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