Page 33 of Redeemed

“Never.”

“And you’re not pretending?”

“Pretending? Like… lying? God, Haven, no.”

“You—” I squeeze my eyes shut as I fight back a sob. “You promise?”

“I promise,” he murmurs, pulling me closer into him. “I give my loyalty to the people who give me theirs. And you… you’ve had mine since the day I met you, angel.”

“Loyalty,” I mumble, accidentally letting a soft moan slip free when he threads his fingers through my hair.

“That’s right. As long as you stay loyal to me, then I’ll stay loyal to you. And that means you’ve got everything I can give you. I’ll always be here for you. Sound good?”

There are too many thoughts swirling in my head and mixing together. I’m too tired to make sense of them, but a feeling of safety bubbles to the surface. His terms are simple. As long as I stay within them, I have him as a friend. And as long ashestays within them, he has me as a friend.

So I nod, whispering, “Yeah.”

“Then I’ve got you,” he murmurs, pressing a kiss to the top of my head.

“And I’ve got you?”

I can hear the smile in his voice as he says, “That’s right.”

And it makes me smile, too.

“Now close your eyes,” he tells me softly. “You were almost asleep.”

“How could you tell?” I mumble.

“You were twitching,” he says with an amused breath. “Now let yourself relax, angel. I’ll keep you safe until you wake up.”

There’s something calming about the cedarwood and lemon scent that seems to follow him everywhere. I let myself fall into it, and my eyes fall closed automatically.

“Good girl,” he whispers, and I realize I must’ve relaxed even more.

Colton keeps playing with my hair, and I slowly get closer to drifting off. For the moment, I let my worries about trust fall away. He’s right—I was almost asleep before I started talking again. That panic attack really wore me out.

For a few minutes, Colton is silent. He must think I’m fully passed out because he whispers, “I wish you would tell me what happened to you. Who hurt you enough to make you this scared.”

When he pauses, my tired mind thinks he’s done. Maybe I’ll tell him one day—whenever I’m sure I can trust him.Maybe soon.

Colton’s lips press against my forehead, and then he’s whispering again. Or maybe my mind is making it all up because the words filtering through my brain can’t be real.

“I’d kill them for you. Everyone who’s ever dared to lay a hand on you. I… I think I’d do anything for you, Haven.”

Lucas

Two weeks later

‎

“Lucas! Xander!”

Setting my book down, I sit up from where I had my head in Xander’s lap. He makes a noise of disappointment as his hand falls away from my light brown hair, so I place a placating hand on his thigh. He can go back to playing with it in a minute.

It takes me a second to pinpoint where the light, feminine voice floating our way came from, but then I see Haven jogging across the quad. The sunlight catches her hair in a way that makes some of the strands look purple.

No,I realize as she gets closer,they’re actually purple.

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