Page 16 of Little Bird (Advantage Play 3)

The anguish nearly guts me before I turn to her and admit, “I can’t let them touch you, Little Bird.”

Sensing my frustration, she raises her hand and gently touches my forearm. Even with the layers of clothes between us, I still find the act soothing. A balm to my soul. And so damn foreign that I find myself frozen in place.

“What happened?” she whispers.

“There’s another girl I’m supposed to watch….”

“And?”

“Sei. He got to her.” My voice cracks as my Little Bird’s eyes gather with tears.

The silence that follows is suffocating. Licking her chapped lips, she blinks a few times, then clears her throat and asks, “I-is she okay?”

“What do you think?” I laugh. “It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have left the basement. I should’ve stayed here. When I’m down here, they know to stay away.”

“It’s not your fault, Dex.” Her eyes are pleading with me to agree, but I can’t.

“It is my fault, Little Bird.”

“No. It’s not,” she argues. “You can’t control everyone around you. And you can’t be everywhere at once, either. Burlone asked you for an impossible task. You’re only one man. And they’re nothing but a bunch of wolves fighting over—”

“I can’t let them touch you,” I reiterate, my hands shaking as the real reason for my terror slips out of me a second time.

As a single tear slides down her cheek, she shakes her head sadly. “If something happens to me, then something happens to me. There’s only so much you can do.”

“How can you say that?” I spit, my frustration bubbling over. “How can you accept your fate like that?”

“I’m not accepting my fate. I’m accepting the possibility that I might be beaten and raped. And probably sold too.” With her lower lip quivering, she stands a little taller. “But not that I won’t overcome it. There’s a difference.”

“Not to me. I can’t let them hurt you.” The desperation is clear in my tone, and instead of arguing, she surprises me. Gently, my Little Bird draws her hand down my arm, then laces our fingers together and brings them to her mouth. I watch the scene unfold in slow motion as she brushes her soft, pouty lips against the back of my hand. Her gaze is glued to mine to show her sincerity as the heat from her mouth brands me with its innocent touch.

But still, she doesn’t speak.

And I snap.

“How can you touch me like that? I’m a fucking monster.” I go to pull my hand away, but she keeps her hold and surprises me with her strength.

“Dex, I need you to listen to me.”

I stop my half-assed attempt to break free and wait for her to spew whatever bullshit helps her sleep at night. Besides, her touch is the only thing keeping me from losing my shit any more than I already have.

“I trust these hands,” she whispers. “I trust them, and I trust what you do with them.”

Standing on her tiptoes, she softly kisses my temple before dropping back down to the flats of her feet. “I trust this mind and that you’re searching for a solution to save me and the rest of these girls, even if you won’t admit it to yourself. You know this is wrong, and you want to fix it. I can see it in your eyes every time you look at me.”

Lastly, she brings her second hand and places it over my heart as it pounds in my chest. “And this heart? I trust this heart so damn much that it scares me. It’s a good one, Dex. Despite the shitstorm you were raised in and taught to believe. It’s a good one, and I need you to believe that too.”

With less than a few inches between us, I let the intimacy from her words soak into my soul, praying she might be right.

And that’s when it hits me. I need to get her out of here. I need to get all of them out of here.

Chapter Twelve

Dex

Sei: Hey.

My brows furrow as I scan the text. Sei isn’t exactly known for being chatty, and he definitely doesn’t reach out for no reason, which means he needs something from me.

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