Page 80 of Beautiful Obsessions
Versus…
Him.
A man I barely understood.A future I couldn’t see.A fall I might not survive.
My hands curled at my sides.
God, I wanted to.That was the worst part.
I wanted to step forward.Close the distance.Choose him and damn the consequences.But desire wasn’t enough.It would never be enough.
“I can’t.”
His face fell when I said the words, shattered.
“You can’t,” he repeated.
He wasn’t angry, or even surprised.
I forced myself to hold his gaze.“I won’t.”
That hurt him more.I saw it.Felt it.And still—I didn’t move.I didn’t step toward him.I didn’t choose him.
Silence stretched between us, thick and suffocating.
Then he gave a small, almost imperceptible nod.Like he’d expected no less.
“Yeah,” he muttered, more to himself than to me.
And just like that, he turned and walked out without a second look.
I stood watching him walk away, my chest caving in from the inside out.
Raze said something, but I didn’t hear it.Because all I could see was the space Archie had just vacated.
All I could feel was the choice I’d just made.The one I couldn’t take back.
I closed my eyes for a second, and when I opened them again, the room tilted slightly.My ribs protested when I breathed too deep, a sharp reminder of exactly how we got here.
“Tone—”
“Don’t.”
My voice came out raw.
Raze went quiet behind me.
I turned slowly, facing him for the first time since he threw me across the room.For the first time, I really looked at him.
My brother.My blood.The man who taught me how to fight to survive, how to carve space for myself in a world that would rather eat me alive.
“Leave me the fuck alone,” I said.
His jaw tightened.“You think I’m just going to walk in here, find that—” he gestured violently to the bed, the room, me, “—and say nothing?”
“I think,” I cut in, stepping forward despite the protest in my side, “you don’t get to decide what I do with my body.”
His eyes flashed.“That’s not what this is about.”
