Page 41 of Forged in Flames (Made of Steel 2)

"I just..."

"You said you could see my weakness!" I said, cutting him off. "As if I have a huge neon sign above my head that says I'm damaged. You pity me. And I feel so stupid." I tried to dismiss the pain in my chest. "I thought you believed in me."

"I said that the abuse was easily detected."

"It's the same thing. I thought I was good at hiding it. I thought..."

"You shouldn't hide from what happened to you. Roberts deserves to pay for what he did. There's no reason..."

"Of course there's a reason!"

"Nothing that he did was your fault, Sadie."

Sadie. The name seemed to echo around in my head. I wanted to scream, but instead, tears just started to pool in my eyes. "I'm ashamed of myself. I couldn't fight him off." I thought about that night when the snow was falling. I couldn't protect myself. How did I ever think I could protect anyone else? I placed my hand on my stomach. "I'm so ashamed."

The next thing I knew, V was wrapping his arms around me. I let his heavenly scent surround me as I pressed the side of my face against his chest. He didn't complain about me getting his hoodie wet with tears. He just held me.

"You're right. I am weak."

"I didn't mean any of that. I was just trying to crawl under his skin so that he'd talk."

"It doesn't mean it's not true. You said I liked Eli because he's..." God, I didn't even want to say it out loud. I swallowed hard. "Abusive. That the way he treats me reminds me of Don. What if you're right? What if I'm so messed up that I can't find myself again?"

"You're perfect just the way you are."

The reason why we worked was because he didn't judge me. And I didn't judge him. The whole premise wasn't stable. Just hearing him say I was weak ignited something inside of me. I wanted to throw a million things at him in retaliation. How dare he judge me when he was so messed up too? So even though we may not have been speaking our judgments, they were still there, waiting just underneath the surface. We were a ticking time bomb, ready to explode at any second.

He leaned down and kissed the side of my neck.

"I'm not perfect."

He pushed the strap of my tank top off my shoulder. "You're perfect to me."

I melted into him. It was easy when his lips felt this good on my skin. But at the same time, it was like I could hear our relationship, or lack thereof, ticking down. "You said you'd give me what I wanted if I brought Eli to you."

"You didn't exactly follow the instructions on my note." He gently kissed my clavicle.

My hips pressed against him, reacting to his lips on their own accord. I couldn't even control it.

"But what is it that you want so badly?" His breath was hot on my skin.

I wanted my pendant. But standing in front of him right now, with his arms wrapped around me, I wasn't sure it was what I wanted most. "I want to see your face."

"That's not what you want."

I swallowed hard. "I want to know your name."

He shook his head and kissed my shoulder. "Tell me what you really want."

I knew what he was getting at. He wanted me to say that he was what I wanted. He was purposely making it hard to think straight. "I want to know what we're doing. What is this thing between us to you?"

"A moment of borrowed time."

"Borrowed time?" His kisses were starting to make me dizzy.

"I think we both know that I'm not the one you end up with," he said.

"Why?"

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