Page 173 of Chasing Ruin
We’ve all been tight-lipped about Scar and Hellfire—about where they’re being kept, about what’s waiting for them. I made sure they weren’t anywhere near the clubhouse.
Not anywhere near her vicinity.
Now she’s asking about my agenda. Probably because she’d heard me. That one time I slipped while talking to Hound and Ryder.
How I’d promised that they’d bleed for seven days… a day for each of the seven hours she was trapped in that cell.
I exhale tightly, my throat working on a hard swallow. “Just arranging for Scar and Hellfire’s last day on earth.”
“Can I… watch?”
I groan. “Absolutely not.”
“Why?”
I ignore her near-petulant tone. “Baby, it’s not something I’d want you to see, okay?”
“Wow, you demoted me back tobaby—just like that, huh?”
I moan into her neck, almost pathetically. To my surprise, when I snuggle in closer, she wraps her arm around me. The other one slides under my head, cocooning me.
“You froze when I called youmy love,” I mumble, voice gentle yet pleading.
She sighs against my forehead, resting her chin on my buzzed head. “I don’t think I can stop your nicknames. Just like you can’t stop mine.” She rubs her chin on me, “…Bristle-Head.”
Christ.
My shoulders shake with a silent laugh.
“Your five minutes are up,” she whispers, patting my bicep.
I groan, burying my face in the curve of her neck for one last second before I force myself—reluctantly, painfully—to pull away. “You’re mean,” I mutter.
She hums, rubbing at her eyes, her lashes fluttering as a yawn slips out. “And you’re weird.”
“Ack, you like me.”
“And you’re delusional too. Wow.”
I huff a quiet laugh, leaning in to press a kiss to her head—and freeze.
She stills too.
For a heartbeat, neither of us moves. Because it felt so damn natural. Like a normal, familiar routine we’ve done a million times.
But it’s new. And heartbreakingly perfect.
A shy smile blooms on her lips.
And yeah… I’m done for.
I tilt her chin up and kiss her. Soft and slow. Like I’m relearning her.
She melts into it almost instantly, her breath hitching as she deepens the kiss. My hand comes up to cradle her jaw, steadying myself more than her.
God.
I smile against her mouth when she gasps, her fingers curling into my shirt, sliding over my chest—hesitant at first, then a little bolder.
