Page 108 of Heart Sick Hate

Like he senses my energy shift, he leans forward and cups my cheeks in his hands.

“You don’t need to hide your darkness from me. I’m not scared of it. It’s beautiful. You’re my destiny, Echo. Always have been.”

“Even when I said I’d be his?”

“Especially then. Because you forced me to finally stop being a fucking idiot always convincing myself I wasn’t obsessed with you.”

“You acted like you hated me.”

“It was easier than dealing with the fact that you liked my brother instead.”

I shake my head. “Technically you can’tlikea Kingsley. It’s an impossible task. They’re all too stubborn and difficult.”

He tries to fight the smile at my comment but fails miserably.

“But I never liked him anyway—at least not as anything more than a friend—if that makes you feel better.” I ghostmy fingers along the back of his neck. “You’re the only man for me. The only one my body’s ever responded to. And that’s not an exaggeration.”

Crew rubs his thumb over my lower lip. “I don’t deserve you, Echo.”

“Keep me anyway.” I wrap my fingers around his wrists and drag his hands lower, and he pauses them at my throat, gripping it.

“Don’t worry.” He pulls my face to his. “I will.”

He tugs me to his mouth—to his kiss. He sinks himself against me, and there’s no world outside this moment. No city to judge us. Nothing we can’t face.

Crew holds me in his arms, and this might as well be the first home I’ve known. Because I’m safe, and in my mind, three words play in a dangerous loop.

I love you.

32

Crew

Doesn’t matter how muchdistance I put between me and Echo, she’s in my veins. Her ink’s carved like a memory into my bones. She’s my ghost of all good and bad things.

Watching her leave this morning with still-wet hair, tied up in a messy bun, wearing nothing more than short shorts and a simple T-shirt, was almost enough to have me following her to the shop on my day off.

Not a drop of makeup, and she’s a sculpture.

If there is a God, they spent centuries crafting creatures until they carved perfection with her. Gold eyes that drag me to hell, and a delicate face like a porcelain doll. The way I want to smear my cum all over it to mess her up almost had me dragging her back into my apartment this morning.

Only today, I can’t.

After texting Adam last night, I didn’t sleep. Echo might think she’s done with Rhett, but in the light of day, there’sa risk she’ll change her mind. She doesn’t come from a safe life like I did, and even if I’m haunted by my ghosts, they’re nothing like hers.

She needs security she’s still not sure I can offer.

I’m not used to caring enough about anything to try to prove myself. But for her, I will.

For her, I need to stop hiding my potential. Chaos might be our foreplay, but what she needs from me right now is to feel safe.

Not with my brother.

With me.

After last night, Rhett isn’t getting near Echo again. When I stole his ring from her finger, it was my promise to her. To protect her, to keep her. She’s mine now and forever.

The way she hands herself to me is a level of trust I’ve never known. Partially because I don’t give people reasons to trust me, but mostly because when they do, I use it against them.

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