Page 79 of Beautiful Ruins
“He’ll be back.
The certainty in his voice left no room for argument.My chest tightened.
“No, he won’t,” I assured him.
“You have no idea what I’ll fucking do to him if he even tries to see you again.”
There it was again.That line.That invisible line he drew around me without ever announcing it.
Something inside me softened.I reached for his hand without thinking about it, my fingers curling around his.He didn’t pull away.His grip closed around mine almost instantly, like the contact grounded him.
“I’m not scared of him,” I said.
“I am,” he ground out.
I blinked.“You are?”
His thumb brushed absently over my knuckles.
“Of what desperation makes men do,” he clarified.
That silenced me.Because he wasn’t wrong.Nathan had looked desperate.Unstable.Unpredictable.
And yet, standing here now, the fear still didn’t come.Not the way it should have.Not the way logic insisted it ought to.
Instead, what lingered was the memory of Raze’s voice when he’d told Nathan to leave me alone.
The way he’d said,she’s mine.
The way he’d looked at me when I spoke.Like my words carried weight, and my decision mattered.It was a strange feeling, being defended like that.
I stepped closer without realising, my free hand resting lightly against his chest.His heart was steady beneath my palm.Strong in a way that made the contrast between his calm and the violence he’d nearly unleashed earlier feel even more significant.
Silence stretched between us, but it wasn’t uncomfortable.It was heavy in a different way now.Charged.Focused.
“Izzy.”My name was rough on his tongue.
I tilted my head up just enough to meet his eyes fully.
I’d only known him a couple of weeks.That fact should have felt alarming.Whatever this was between us should have felt rushed.Reckless.Illogical.Instead, time felt irrelevant.Because time with him didn’t move normally.It condensed.Intensified.Filled space in a way that made it feel like I’d known him far longer than I actually had.Long enough to trust him, to rely on him.
“I don’t want to overthink this,” I admitted softly.
His hand rose to my waist, resting there with certainty.
“Then don’t,” he replied.
My breath caught slightly when his other hand came up, brushing a loose strand of hair behind my ear with surprising gentleness.The contrast between the man who had nearly broken someone outside and the man standing in front of me now was disorienting in the best possible way.
“I think,” I searched for the words as my fingers sunk into his shirt, “this is what it’s supposed to feel like.”
His brow lowered slightly.“What is?”
I swallowed.
“Being seen by someone.”
His hand tightened at my waist.
