Page 56 of The Freedom in Captivity

Because every time he calls me that, he gains another piece of it.

Ma lune.I don’t say it aloud though. Somehow, I get the sense he’ll pull away entirely.

When he finishes and we both come down, neither of us move. Like we don’t want this to end because when Flynn exits my body, that’s exactly what will happen.

Flynn and I have always been two puzzle pieces. We just work, even when it makes no sense. Even when our sides seem like they won’t fit together, they do. Like a puzzle though, one day someone deemed us too difficult to solve and we were separated.

Exactly like what Flynn decides now as he sighs low and releases me, pulling from my sated body. I fall forward and roll onto my back, examining the mess between my legs.

“Starting to believe me finally?” I ask as he turns for the bathroom. He returns with a towel and a scathing look. He doesn’t clean me; only tosses the towel toward me.

“Wipe,” he demands.

“Do I get another shower?” Three within twelve hours isn’t so bad.

His eyes narrow, any sign of the Flynn who was holding me gone and clearly tucked behind his own protective walls. “Make it quick. I mean it, Rozelyn. Don’t make me come looking for you.”

Then he turns away and retrieves his own clothes from the floor. Clearly, he’s back to ignoring me, placing distance between us. A reminder of the feelings he thinks he needs to have toward me.

I’m still smiling as I head for the shower again because I’m getting beneath his skin.

He might hate me, but this unexpected scenario in which our lives intersect again means one thing: neither of us can ignore the promises we once made to one another.

I stare at the scar on my palm.

* * *

The basement feels chillier than before, but I suppose it has to do with the fact I’ve been warm upstairs in his room all night. It’s been a tease I hadn’t expected, so now I’m back to ground zero with managing this place.

The moment I’m at the bottom of the stairs, I head toward the pole, assuming that’s where I’ll be tied up. He doesn’t follow, instead lingering by the base of the stairs, his arms crossing as he drops into a lean on the wooden post connecting the staircase to the building.

He watches me watch him and just when I think he’s about to say something, he jerks his head roughly, and then pushes off the post to turn for the stairs again.

My stomach lurches. After everything in the past twelve hours, he’s leaving. He can’t leave…I don’t know why, but hecan’t.

“I turned it off.” I say the first thing that comes to mind. It works, for he pauses at the base of the stairs and casts stormy, dark eyes onto me again. “My emotions. I was a bitch when I arrived here. I was a bitch to Della and Ariella for years. It’s all I know how to do, Flynn. What I’ve been doing to protect myself. It’s easier to not feel at all than feel guilt. The first time—” My words choke in my throat. “The first time was after I left you. When I went home and hid from Dad. If he saw how affected I was by his threat, I feared what he’d do, so I closed myself off. Only Yasmine and my bedroom ever saw me cry after that day.”

He stares at me.

I stare at him.

Silence is palpable between us. Electrifying.

Tense.

He takes a step and it’s in his single move away from me, my heart cracks.

Another step.

He pauses and glances toward me again. “Thank you for trying to protect me from your father, but I would have paid the price to be with you.”

By the time his statement registers, he’s gone and up the stairs. The light flicks off and the door slams shut. A distinct locking noise finds its way down to me.

And that’s it.

Flynn

Nico was right. Caterina was right.

---