Page 130 of Cursed to Be Mine
“It’s not.” His fingers move in an intricate pattern as he stares at his severed hand. It bursts into flames, and I drop to my knees with my shirt to put it out.We can reattach it. We can –
“Leave it,” he says, then pulls me to my feet, his fingers strong with a stubbornness that’s going to kill him.
“But we can –”
His lips close on mine, and I want to ask him what the fuck he’s doing at a time like this, but his tongue is in my mouth, and there is so much desperation flowing down our link, I open for him as tears burn my eyes.
“I’m sorry,” he murmurs against my lips. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay. I’m okay.” While he’s distracted, I ball up my shirt and press it against his open wrist.
He hisses in pain, then pushes harder against me, still punishing himself for what he did. For what I asked him to do.
His mother’s words push tears out of my eyes.
“You will lose more than you ever knew you had and still more will be ripped from you.”
“Please let me do this,” I beg of him, unable to bear more being ripped from me today. He can be dumb again tomorrow, but right now… “Please,kira.”
His lips still against mine, and my pulse skips a beat as I worry he’s about to pass out from blood loss. But instead he touches my forehead with his and sighs. “I’m sorry for you still having to take care of me,kira.”
“It’s what we do. We both take care of each other.” I wrap the shirt tight around him. “You saved me from the shadows. I saved you from your dumbass idea.” A broken cry rips from me. “You saved me in that office.Antonio giving his word to Talon means shit, and you know it. He just said that to piss you off.”
His jaw clenches, and I lean forward to kiss him, my shudder reflecting back in his touch. “I need to make a tourniquet,” I say. “I just need a couple of pens to twist the fabric around, and –”
He kisses me more firmly, then steps back, pulling off my shirt. “I’m going to cauterize it,” he says before I can beg him to keep it on.
Placing his hand over his wound, he grits his teeth, and it surprises me that he can feel the pain from that when he didn’t flinch at all when he cut it off. Maybe the shock is wearing away.
Maybe he’s coming back to me. His teeth grind as his nostrils flare, and the smell of a Sunday BBQ wisps in the air between us.
My stomach churns, then growls, and my mouth drops open in horror.
A small chuckle leaves him, pained and short. “Let’s get you home,” he says, dropping his hand to reach for me, only to immediately sway. I duck under his arm and take his weight.
He tries to pull away, but I rope an arm around him. “You’re mykiratoo,” I murmur as I turn us and head for the elevator.
Kissing my head, Khalid squeezes my shoulders. “I love you,kira.”
“I love you too, you crazy ass idiot.”
Forty-Three
HER
When we step into the elevator, he leans against the wall and I press the button for the bottom floor. I shuffle back to him, my eyes on his cauterized wrist. I hope it hurts like a bitch so he doesn’t do it ever again, but his face is a mask of utter indifference and his eyes are on me, seeing howIam.
The fucking psycho is going to be the death of me.
My voice cracks as I demand, “Promise me you won’t hack off any more pieces of yourself.”
“I couldn’t live with it attached to me.” So flippant. So final.
Emotions slam into me, working my bottom lip. I grab the back of his head and haul his lips down to mine. “Then we’ll learn to make it beautiful again together. Promise me. I can’t do this if I’m worried about people hurting you all the time and then have to worry about you hurting yourself.”
He stares into my eyes as we share breaths of pain for different things. “You’re very demanding,” hefinally says, pulling a twisted chuckle from me even though I don’t feel like laughing.
I can still feel Antonio’s eyes on me, still see the blur of his fist as he made me look at him. I feel disgusting and dirty and far too naked without my shirt, so I press my chest against Khalid’s, seeking his warmth. He wraps his arm around me, and in the bubble of the elevator, we exist for just a moment.
