Page 179 of Brutal
I nod because I understand that more than I should. I did the same thing in a different way.
“I didn’t question him,” I say. “Because everything told me I didn’t have to.”
“You were used,” she says.
I hold her gaze. “Yes.”
I want to say so much to her. But with everything that sits between us now, I’m not sure I can. I never should have gotten this close.
But it’s too late to change anything now.
There’s no more illusion. Just truth. And it’s worse than anything we were avoiding.
Because we’re still here, facing each other, choosing to stay in it.
I lift my hand, ready to touch her soft cheek, but I stop myself.
“If I touch you,” I say quietly, “this doesn’t go away.”
“I know.”
“If I don’t?—”
“It doesn’t go away either.” She steps closer and closes the distance between us.
“No, it doesn’t.” This time I do touch her. Slide my finger over her lower lip and then up across her cheek. “I don’t walk away from things I choose.”
Her breath catches.
“And I choose you.”
The words aren’t particularly romantic, not even sexy. They’re just the simple truth, and they mean everything because they cost something.
“That makes you reckless,” she says, her lips curving upward.
“It makes me honest.”
She nods. “Then we finish it. We figure it all out. The setup. The lie. The person who made that night happen the way it did.”
I nod. “Yes.”
I slide my hand around her throat, gently this time. Her pulse jumps under my fingers.
“We finish it,” I say. “All of it.”
48
DELANEY
Something dark passes between us.
He tightens his hold on my throat. If he were any other man, I’d be frightened. I’d fight back, try to release his hold.
But he’s not any other man.
He’s Samson Vexley, the man I?—
No. Not yet. I clear my throat, and he releases me.
