Page 39 of I See You

But the second he fired up the blunt and took a slow, deep pull, her voice whispered through his mind. "You’re not broken." His grip on the blunt tightened as he exhaled a thick cloud of smoke into the night air.

Then her face flashed in his mind. The way she had looked athim in her office, leaning against her desk with that soft, knowing expression, like she saw everything inside of him that no one else could. Fuck. His jaw clenched as something hot and unwanted stirred inside him. His dick hardened at the thought of her, and the realization made his irritation spike.

"Get the fuck out of my head." The words left his mouth in a low growl, as if saying them out loud would force her away. But it didn’t.

He closed his eyes, but the moment he did, he wasn’t standingon his balcony anymore—he was back in her office. He could stillsee the way she had watched him, not with fear, not with judgment, but with something that felt too damn close to understanding. She wasn’t supposed to look at him like that. No one was. People feared him. People stayed the fuck out of his way. But she didn’t. She had sat there, meeting his gaze head-on, her voice steady when she said, "You’re not broken."

He took another slow drag, the smoke curling around him like a haze, but even through the fog, she was still there. Still in his head, still in his chest, still making his body react in ways it had no fucking business reacting. He needed to shake this shit. He needed to get her out of his system.

But nothing worked. And the worst part?

Somewhere deep inside him, where he kept all the shit he refused to deal with, he knew he didn’t really want to. Sevyn Love had cracked into his mind. And once something got in, Hassan never let it go.

???

Sevyn drove through the morning streets, gripping the wheel a little tighter as Harper’s voice blared through her car speakers.

"Girl, what the hell did you tell Hassan?"

The urgency in her tone made Sevyn’s stomach tighten, and she instantly felt on edge. Just hearing his name sent an involuntary shiver down her spine, but the anxiousness in Harper’s voice made her even more nervous.

"Umm… nothing really. Why? Is he trying to kill me?!" Her voice shot up in panic as she maneuvered through traffic.

Harpersnorted,unabletoholdbackherlaughter,whichonly pissed Sevyn off more.

"No, girl! But whatever you told him had him banging on my door at two in the morning, thinking we set him up. I’ve never seen so much emotion in his eyes." Harper’s tone sobered toward the end, and Sevyn sucked in a slow breath.

"Well, technically, we did try to set him up," Sevyn muttered, sounding as defeated as she felt.

Because despite how much Hassan had left an unshakable effect on her, how his presence lingered in her mind far longer than it should have, she still wanted to help him. He carried a heavy weight, and she saw it, even if he refused to acknowledge it. The way he held himself, the way his eyes burned but stayed so damn cold at the same time—it was too much for one person to carry alone.

"What did you tell him?" Harper pressed again, this time sounding even more anxious, like she was bracing for whatever came next.

Sevyn chuckled softly at her friend’s nervousness before answering.

"The truth."

She shrugged like Harper could see her, her voice holding that same certainty it had the day before.

"He's not broken."

She said it with conviction, the same way she had told him in her office.

Harper went silent for a moment before she finally responded. "So… you lied to him?"

Sevyn mugged the phone like Harper could see her through it. "No.Itoldhimthetruth.He'snotabrokenman."Sevyn'stone came out more defensive than she intended, but she didn’t care. She meant it.

She heard Harper sigh through the phone. "Look, Sev, Hassan been through some shit. I'm not gonna tell his business, but a man who can kill someone with his bare hands and not feel a damn thing about it? That’s scary. A man who don’t show emotion, even to his own family? That’s dangerous. And never letting anyone—even the people who love him—get the slightest bit close to him emotionally? That’s broken."

Sevyn’sgriponthesteeringwheeltightenedasanunexpected wave of irritation rolled through her. She didn’t know why, but she feltdefensive—forhim.Whichwascrazybecauseshedidn’tknow Hassan—atall.Butshefelthim.Shesawsomethingbeyondthe coldness, the ruthlessness, beyond the version Harper was describing. "But…Iknowforafactthathewasn’talwayslikethat,"Sevyn said, her voice softer but firm. "Experiences, trauma, life—that’s what madehimintothemanyouseetoday.Butthatdoesn’tmakehim broken, Harp."

Harper was quiet for a moment, her silence heavy. "Then what do you call it, Sevyn?"

"He’s exhausted, Harper. And once you—and whoever else who keeps looking at him like he’s shattered—once y’all finally see that, maybe he will too."

Sevyn knew she was pushing, that this was a touchy subject for Harper, but she needed her to understand. She needed her to see the man she felt in Hassan.

"He’s really strong," Sevyn continued, her voice calm but unwavering. "I don’t know his life story—hell, I don’t even know him. But I felt him, Harp."

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