Sweet, innocent Anneke—-
Why are you so damn easy to destroy?
Didn’t she know...didn’t she fucking understand that he could never be with her when she was this sweet?
In her eyes, he saw that she only had one question she wanted to ask.
Why? Why? Why?
And Marcus almost wanted to laugh.
His Anneke was so goddamn sweet that even now she was waiting for him to give her an explanation—-
An excuse—-
Anything that would allow her to close her eyes to the pain and continue clinging to a dream—-
As the seconds trickled past, he could see her pain spreading inside of her like a cancerous infection, and he could feel his face hardening in response, knowing that it was him—-
He was the fucking infection that could and would eventually taint her for good.
I’m sorry, Anneke,he thought dully,but you’re too damn easy to destroy.
Her eyes started to tear up, and her gaze told him that she was beginning to look at him like he was a stranger—-
Ah, Anneke.
He wanted to jerk her into his arms, wanted his fingers to bite into her skin, as he whispered the fucking truth into her ears.
No, Anneke.
This is the real me.
And it was almost as if she heard him when Anneke suddenly choked out, “I don’t understand.”
His lips twisted. “You were never meant to.” And God help her, but he hoped she never did.
Walking past her, he saw Anneke fall to her knees, but he didn’t let it stop him.
She might think he had destroyed her, but she was wrong. She didn’t know how it was to be destroyed the way he did, and that was how it should be.
I’m sorry, Anneke.
Her pain was his strength.
I’m so goddamn sorry.
Marcus could feel her staring at him, still goddamn waiting, and it threatened his control.
For one moment, he wanted to say to hell with everything—-
To hell with what was right—-
For one goddamn moment, he wanted to risk it all—-
He heard her say again,“I don’t understand.”
Ah, God.