Page 102 of Betraying Him
“The thought of never seeing you again, mixed with the idea of you being able to find me, but getting hurt in the process. That’s what terrified me the most, Harley.”
My breath gets caught in my throat as my heart almost beats out of my chest.
Fuck, this girl.
This girl.
All day, she was subjected to shit no one should ever have to face, and instead of worrying about herself, she was thinking about me.
Me.
“You’re something else, you know that, right?” I ask and she snorts. “I mean it, Sav. I’ve never met anyone like you. No one else would focus on anyone other than themselves in that situation, yet you did. You worry about everyone around you,but you never put yourself first. You’re smart, beautiful, and the bravest fucking person I’ve ever met.”
“I don’t know how to put myself first,” she whispers, like it’s a dirty secret, and I can’t help but smile.
“You don’t need to, baby, because from now on, you’ll have me putting you first.”
“You?”
“Mm hmm,” I murmur and wipe her eyes, pulling back to look her dead in the eyes. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes in the past, Sav. But from now on, I’ll always put you first. Your needs, wants, whatever it is, it’ll always be you before anyone else.”
“Why would you do that for me?”
Oh, baby…
“Because I love you, little devil,” I say simply. “Because I fell in love with you four years ago, and even though I’ve tried to tell myself I’ve hated you since then, those feelings never went away. It’s always been you, Sav. And it always will be.”
She looks up at me, her eyes bright and wide.
And then she bursts into tears.
Ah, fuck.
“Shit, Sav. I didn’t mean to make you cry. Please don’t cry, whatever it is, I’ll fix it,” I say, panic creeping into my voice. Fuck, I really hate it when she cries, and it’s so much worse right now.
Her hands meet my chest, and she pulls back to look at me before wiping her face with her sleeve. Once she’s gotten herself together, she takes a deep breath and whispers, “I love you too.”
“You do?”
She laughs breathlessly. “Yeah, I do. How could I not?”
I feel my own eyes sting with tears, and this time, I don’t try to hide them. She turns serious, biting down on her bottomlip, and I pull it free with my thumb before pressing a soft kiss to her lips.
“You really love me?”
“Yeah, Sav. I really do.”
A fire burns in her eyes, and her lips tip up into a smirk. “Then why don’t you show me how much?”
SEVENTY-THREE
SAVANNAH
Harley stares at me,his eyes assessing me just like I knew they would.
“You’re not hurt? Like, at all?” he asks, and I shake my head. My throat may be a little sore for a while, but otherwise, I feel fine.
I also know that he’s worried about my mental health just as much as my physical health. Today was fucking bad. Horrible. Terrifying. Scarring. But you know what? Everything that I thought would happen didn’t. I didn’t end up being sold to my father’s friend. I wasn’t raped by my father’s right-hand man, and I get to be with Harley when I thought I’d never see him again.
