Page 254 of Enemies

We follow the Ferrari through the streets and up the driveway. When we get to the house, Ash tells me, “Think I’ll go crash for a bit.”

Harrison and I follow him inside, where a worried Barney greets us with a whimper. I scratch his head as Natalia emerges from the kitchen, looking equally concerned.

Harrison fills her in, and Natalia bustles off to get a room ready for Leni, and it’s just the two of us.

His sharp jaw is as stubborn as ever, his mouth pressed in a firm line, but his square shoulders are slumped as he crosses to the kitchen for water, pouring me one too. I take it and sip, my gaze lingering on the streaks of dirt caked on Harrison’s hands as he braces himself against the sink.

“Leni was always up for anything,” he mutters, “including a bar fight. I didn’t learn until later she was shy growing up. One of her friends from summer camp said she used to be timid. Wouldn’t play in the dirt for fear of staining her clothes.” His exhale is half laugh. “Can you believe it?”

I fold my arms across my chest. I want to go to him, but I can’t. Not yet.

“I led her to this, Raegan,” he whispers. “I blame my parents for what they did, but I’m no better.”

The agony in his voice guts me.

“You can choose to be better,” I say.

“My top employee is bleeding in the hospital. My brother is doing drugs from the same man who killed our parents. It’s my fucking fault.”

God, the blood and dirt on him is getting to me, almost as much as the way he’s speaking. “Come on.”

He looks up in surprise as I take his hand. I lead him upstairs and down the hall into his bedroom, tugging the door closed behind us.

I pull him into the en suite. Then I reach for the buttons on his shirt.

His blue gaze searches mine, perplexed. “You don’t have to?—“

“Shut up.”

I start running a bath and strip him down. He stops me only once—to set his phone on the counter, along with a gold ring that makes my breath catch.

I’m curious about it, but I don’t ask as he steps into the bath.

When I start to scrub him clean, he stops me. “You don’t need to take care of me.”

“We all need taking care of sometimes. I learned that from you.” I sneak a look at him as I wash his hands, the dirt under his nails.

He sinks back in the tub, watching me with half-lidded eyes. “I won’t be responsible for any more people I care about being hurt.”

“You’ll stop going after Mischa, then? Because that’s the price.”

He studies me while I switch to the other hand.

“I can’t succeed,” he says. “Not if the people I love are hurt in the process. Without them, I have nothing.”

“Leni and Ash know they’re important to you,” I say softly.

His throat bobs. “Without you, I am nothing.”

The painful balloon stretching my chest expands more. “It’s not enough for you to put me on some pedestal I never asked for. To do reckless shit to protect me and anyone else. Any decisions we make, we make together. That’s the deal.”

I’m willing to put my heart on the line for him, but we can’t be together unless he does this.

His mouth tips up at one corner. “You’re right. That’s how we’ll do things.”

A wave of emotion washes over me. “You mean it?”

His slow nod makes the block of ice in my stomach start to melt.

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