Page 28 of Ronan

“Do you want me to beg you to stay?”

“Depends. Am I going to have to beg you to return?”

Ronan’s brows pinch as he cocks his head at me, staring at me in that unnerving way he’s perfected. “I already told you I’d be back.”

“Yeah, well, what people say and what they do aren’t always the same. Life has never had a problem showing me that.” He opens his mouth to speak, but I interrupt him. “Where exactly do you see this going, Ronan?” I lick my lips, wincing at the burn of the fresh cut. “What if I stay? What happens then? Who am I to you besides an obligation?” My stomach churns as I watch the range of emotions cross his face, the urge to get closer to him becoming harder to fight.

Butwhydo I want to touch him?

Is it genuine, or have the fates willed it into existence?

Is the decision even mine? Will iteverbe mine?

His eyes are pleading as he watches me like I’m the predator. LikeI’mthe dangerous one here. “What do you want me to say?” he asks, voice strained. “This is just as new and strange to me as it is to you.”

“Tell me what’s going on in that thick head of yours! Tell me…” My voice cracks, and I hate the way he stares at me as though my every thought is written across my forehead for his inspection. “Tell me I’m not just a burden.”

Tell me you want me.

“Where would you even get that idea?” he asks, but I just shake my head, because he didn’t deny it, and I needed him to deny it. Needed him to tell me I’m wrong.

“What’s this going to look like, Ronan? You’ll come out here with more supplies for me, and I’m supposed to… what? Sit here and wait for you to take care of me? Waste away in this ratty little house while you come out and visit once a week?”

He frowns, glancing around at the dilapidated building. “It’s the best I could do on short notice.”

“You’re missing the point,” I argue, my agitated hands waving in front of me. “You said it was my choice what happens when you got me out.”

“It is,” he says, rubbing at his palm where his mark is burning under his skin, just like mine. We’re both on fire, and neither of us are making a move to extinguish the flames.

“This isn’t achoice, Ronan, not for me. This is you leaving me, like everyone in my fucking life has always left me.”

“For the last time, I’m notleavingyou,” he says, taking a few pointed steps forward until I have to tilt my chin up to meet his eyes. “If you want a choice, then make a choice, Cameron. You ask me where I see this going, but what about you? What would you ask me to do?”

“Would you come with me?” I whisper, and he jerks back in surprise.

“What?”

I gesture at his armor. “Would you leave behind the life you’ve always known for something that’s nothing more than a fairy tale? Because that’s what you’re asking of me—to sit still and wait for you when I’ve never had the luxury of sitting still. You are asking me to change my entire life, but if you aren’t willing to do the same...”

“Fairy tale,” he mutters, reaching forward and letting his fingers graze over mine. “Is that what this is to you?”

“I don’t know what this is.”

“But it scares you.” My skin sparks where his hand grazes mine, and my fingers flex out to meet his in a brief touch.

“Of course it scares me,” I say, and he takes an involuntary half-step forward. “It fucking terrifies me, and if you were smart, it would terrify you, too. Now answer my question. Would you leave it behind for me?”

“I don’tknow.” His shoulders bunch around his neck and fists form at his sides, but he doesn’t move back. He pants a few heavy breaths before he seems to fold in on himself. “I don’t know, Cameron,” he says, all the fight draining from his body.

“Well, at least we have that in common.”

His throat bobs in a swallow before he steps back, pacing back and forth in a tight circle before sighing again, and the sound is heavy. “I have to get back.”

“You mentioned that.” Sarcasm bites at my words, and he glances at me before twisting the switch on the oil lamp, leaving us in darkness. Everything goes black as my eyes fight to adjust to the night once more, but I hear his footsteps and sense his presence move directly in front of me.

“I’m in no place to ask any favors of you,” he whispers, like the night demands our secrecy, and my entire body chills at the rasp of his voice. “You owe me nothing, Cameron.Nothing, okay? Whatever debt you feel is owed between us, the slate is wiped clean. If you want to walk away as soon as I drive off, that is your choice. I won’t come after you, and I won’t…” He stops, his throat clicking with an audible swallow. “I would never force something on you.”

“But, gods, how I want you. It makes no sense, does it? This desire I have to stitch you to my side so I don’t lose sight of you. Nothing makes sense right now, Cameron, but it doesn’t change the facts… it doesn’t change how I feel.” The words are near-silent, not even a whisper, and he rests his hands on my shoulders and inches closer. “My entire life has been laid out for me since I was a young man. A path set in stone, one that I’ve never even considered straying from until this moment. I don’t know anything else.”

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