Page 133 of You Were Always Mine
“Please,” she gasps, every word cracking. “Please, Kai—come home with me. Don’t do this. Don’t leave me.”
I clutch her hips, fingers trembling, because I should peel her off and keep moving. But I can’t. She smells like salt and candle wax and the tears that break me in ways fists never could.
I tilt down, press my forehead to hers, and for once my voice isn’t all rage—it’s raw, wrecked.
“Baby… I need to do this. I can’t let anyone hurt you. I can’t let him breathe knowing he touched you—knowing he still thinks he can.” My thumb drags across her cheek, catching another tear. “I can’t fucking let him do this to you anymore.”
She shakes against me, sobbing so hard I feel it vibrate through my ribs. Her lips are right there, trembling like a dare.
I take them.
Not gentle, not cruel—just everything at once. A kiss that tastes of salt and blood and something so forbidden it should burn us alive. My mouth devours her plea; hers clings to my fury. It’s hot, desperate, teeth and tongues and gasps between sobs—the kind of kiss that isn’t a promise. It’s a ruin.
When I tear back, I’m panting, thumb tracing her lips like I can memorise them in one touch.
“You’re mine,” I whisper, softer than I should be, harsher than I want. “But I have to finish this.”
I peel myself away. Her arms fall, useless, to her sides.
I take three steps before her scream tears the night in two.
“But I love you!”
The words hit like a punch, stop me cold. My hands flex at my sides. The neon buzz fades. The whole world holds its breath.
I don’t make it three steps before the weight of her voice cracks me open.I love you.It rings louder than her sobs, louder than the blood pounding for violence.
I whip back faster than I mean to. She flinches when I’m in front of her again, my hand cupping her jaw rough enough to make her gasp. My mouth grazes her ear, breath ragged.
“You don’t get to say that and then try to stop me.” My voice is a snarl, broken through gritted teeth. “You don’t get to love me and then let him live. That’s not how this works, Scar. You want me? Then you want all of me—the rage, the ruin, the violence. You don’t get the soft pieces without the blood on my hands.”
Her tears spill over my thumb. She shakes her head, but her body leans into me like she’s starving for it—terrified and drawn closer all at once.
I press my forehead to hers, nails biting into her chin to keep her eyes on mine.
“So say it again. Say you love me—and then watch what I do to the bastard who touched what’s mine.”
Her lips tremble, and for a second I think she’llswallow the words, bury them where they can’t undo us. But then—soft, shattered?—
“I love you.”
It breaks me. It brands me. It should anchor me.
Instead, it sets me on fire.
I drop her face like it burns, fists curling at my sides. If I don’t walk away now, I’ll drag her with me into this, and she’ll see every part of the monster she swears she loves.
“Then you’ll fucking understand,” I grind out, voice more knife than sound. I don’t look at her again—if I do, I’ll fold. And folding isn’t an option. Not with him still breathing.
My boots hit the pavement hard and fast, every step thundering in my ears, drowning her sobs behind me. She’s calling after me—I can hear it, ragged, raw—but the night swallows her voice, and I don’t turn back. I can’t.
Not until Tyler’s blood is on my hands.
Kai
Ifind him where I knew he’d be—leaning against that piss-stained wall outside the dive, a cigarette glowing between his fingers like he thinks he’s untouchable. His smirk is already carved into his face before I even step into the light.
“Well, well,” he drawls, dragging smoke into his lungs like he’s bored, like I’m nothing. “Guess the little sister didn’t tell you everything, huh? She begs for it.”
