“You’re overwhelming me. This is going too fast.” She stepped out of my grasp, hands shaking at her sides. “I need to think about this. Maybe I don’t want to mess around with a biker. Maybe I want someone who doesn’t kill people for a living and does all kinds of illegal shit. Maybe I don’t want my life in danger like Maddy’s.”
Fucking hell if her reasons didn’t give me pause. For about two seconds. Then I figured out what was happening.
Her speech wasn’t how she really felt. Like Madeline, Tara would fight alongside her man before giving him up. Why else would she have gone to the jail to see me after I’d run away from her? She wanted to fight for us.
“Why you lying to me,mi vida?” I reached for her arm, reeling her into my embrace. “Thought we were gonna be honest from here on out? I need to trust you too, baby.”
She dropped her head to my chest, hiding her face. My stomach tightened, sensing she was about to reveal her secret. This conversation wouldn’t be easy. Roja needed to know she could trust me. I brushed my nose in her hair, inhaling her sweet scent… strawberries.
“I didn’t have a good childhood. It scarred me. I’m fucked up, Hero. You don’t need me complicating your life.”
I cradled her face, lifting it up and pressing my lips to hers, holding them there. “I’m not going anywhere. So pushing me away is futile.”
“You’re an idiot, then.”
“I’m your idiot, then.”
Tears pooled in her eyes. “I don’t want you to think bad about me. I don’t want anyone to. I’ve worked so hard to overcome… Well, it doesn’t matter. I’d been in a good place until—”
“Until what?” A massive boulder of regret crushed my chest because I knew I was to blame for sending her spiralling.
“Until you broke my heart.”
I stared through her brown depths, straight into her soul. I should let her keep her secrets. Let her go. Let her be free.
But I couldn’t. I needed her.
My damaged soul cried out to hers. I hadn’t realized until this very moment how perfect we were for each other.
“I’m not letting you go,mi vida. You are my life.” I kissed her again. “Together, we will rise from the ashes.” I sealed my words on her lips. “Strong and fierce for what we’ve suffered. We share an unbreakable bond forged in the fires of hell. I know you feel it too.”
18
Tara
“WE SHARE AN unbreakable bond forged in the fires of hell. I know you feel it too.” He stroked his thumb softly across my cheek, knocking down huge parts of the wall I hid behind.
Who was this man? Was my imagination playing tricks on me?
No.
I heard it in his silky voice and saw it in his intense brown eyes. Hero wasn’t fucking with me. Could I really trust him? I wanted to more than anything.
“I’m not letting you go, Roja,” he repeated as his hand on my face relaxed.
“Promise?” I whispered, hardly able to speak with my throat constricting. Anxiety exploded in my chest, squeezing the air out of my lungs.
Are you really gonna do this?
“Yes.” His conviction, the absolute certainty in that one word made my stomach churn.
I lowered my gaze to his black biker books. “I want to believe you.”
“Eyes up here.” His thumb and finger softly pinched my chin, raising it. “I need to see your gorgeous eyes.”
My chest rattled as I blew out a sigh, overwhelmed by his tenderness. I steeled myself, collecting every bit of strength I could muster.
“I want to trust you. But you’ve lied before. You abandoned me.” Frick, I hated sounding weak and pathetic.