Page 96 of Ares

More tears spill down her cheeks. “You would do that for me?”

“Angel, there isn’t a goddamn thing in this world I wouldn’t do for you.”

Her face breaks, and she starts to cry.

Sitting up, I gather her into my arms, and she softens against me and sobs into my chest. She feels so tiny and soft and so infinitely perfect. My heart twists with longing to protect her from everything and anything, even her own tears. I smooth down her hair. “It’s okay,” I whisper.

“When I saw the barn collapse…” She lifts her head, and her cheeks glitter with the trail left by her tears. “When I thought I had lost you… in those minutes, it didn’t feel like the world would ever be right again. And then you were there, and you were alive, and the relief made me weak all over I could barely breathe.”

“So why are you crying?”

Her face breaks again. “Because that’s when I knew I had fallen in love with you.”

My heart soars, and I can’t stop the smile playing on my lips. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

“It is,” she sobs. “Because I wasn’t supposed to fall in love with you.”

“Says who?”

She stops sobbing, and with a sharp hitch of breath, she becomes very still, and it’s almost like darkness enters her big almond-shaped eyes. Her expression changes, her eyebrow lifts, and she seems to get lost in thought.

“Hey?” I tuck a lock of her hair behind her ear. “It’s okay, you don’t have anything to be frightened of.”

Her gaze comes back to me, and she looks frightened. “Ares, there is something I need to tell you.”

The coolness in her voice is unsettling as well as the fear in her expression.

“You can tell me anything,” I say, not liking the sudden mood change.

I don’t like the way she looks uncomfortable as she tries to find her next words, either.

“There are things you need to know.”

“Then tell me.”

She draws in a deep breath. “I’m not who you think I am.”

“People very rarely are, baby.”

“Who I was when I came here isn’t who I am now.”

I cup her jaw. “I don’t care who you were or what you’ve done, what matters is now.”

“You couldn’t possibly mean that.”

“I can, and I do.”

The sharp shrill of my cell cuts into the tension and makes her jump.

It’s Jack.

I answer it, but I don’t take my eyes off Rory. “Yeah.”

Jack doesn’t waste time with pleasantries. “I need you back at the clubhouse. I’ve called Church. We need to clean up this mess.” He hangs up.

It’s the worst timing in the world because I have a feeling Rory is about to pull the rug out from under me, and I need to hear her say it. But I’m sergeant-at-arms, I have to be where my president tells me to be, and he will kick my ass if I don’t get there as soon as possible.

“I have to go, but we’ll talk when I get back…”

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