Page 72 of Unlocking Ruin

I lunge forward, dropping his phone. It clatters off the couch to the floor. With my arms open wide, I hug him. His body stiffens with shock but a second later he pulls me into his lap and cradles me.

Neither of us say anything, we just sit in each other’s arms, hugging and holding each other. I cry and he lets me, knowing I need to purge it out. Be rid of it. For the first time in my life, I don’t feel alone. I feel the most secure I’ve ever felt, and I don’t want to lose it.

“Now that I’ve been hugged it’s hard to imagine life without that feeling of support,” I whisper, as my tears soak his shirt. I close my eyes and listen to the steady beat of his heart.

“Then don’t imagine it,” he replies as he holds me closer. “When are you going to realize that you can be vulnerable? I’ll keep you safe.”

His finger slips under my chin, guiding my face to his. “Come out on a date with me tonight.”

“What?” I sit up, but he keeps me perched on his lap.

A date. I don’t date. I hook up because… shit, he’s right, I don’t want to allow another to get close to me.

“I thought it wasn’t safe to leave,” I mutter.

And there’s you running again, Rylan.

“I’ll make dinner here. Just me and you. Give me a chance, Rylan. That’s all I ask.”

I get lost as I study his sky-blue eyes. Desperately I search for a reason to deny him, but the closing argument in my mind tells me to trust him. He saved me, he cares in his own twisted, obsessed way. I have to stop living this way, closed off, believing everyone is using me.

My chin dips and I nod. “Okay. I’ll go on a date with you.”

CHAPTER 17

Steffen

Torben’s shock is painted across his face like fresh graffiti and a great deal of red paint.

“A date?” he repeats. He pushes off the wall and takes a step closer to me.

Ignoring him, I walk to my closet and begin to mull over what I’ll wear.

His shadow fills the doorway. “How do you take a caged animal out on a date? What is it gonna be—a petting zoo experience?” He adds this with the intention of trying to piss me off.

Breathe out. Don’t punch him. I don’t want swollen knuckles. I want full movement of my hands for Rylan.

“She doesn’t even know you’re playing her.” He crosses his arms, biceps bulging.

“I’m not playing her. I love her.”

He hisses out an old norse saying that begs the lost gods for help. “Love?” he questions. “Steffen, this love is destined to have a Romeo and Juliet ending.”

“Unlikely since our families are not enemies.” I reach for a simple gray long-sleeved shirt, then walk to where my trousers hang.

“Now we are.”

“I altered the deal with Alister.”

Torben steps into my closet, his breath sounding like fists pounding on war shields. “You didn’t tell me.”

“I don’t need your help with it. Case closed.”

“How is this going to end? If Alister manages to get The Rites to rescind their offer to Nelson, and you somehow get him, you still have to hand Rylan over to Alister. You will lose her. She is your cost for revenge.”

He’s right. She is. There’s no way around it.

“If you love Rylan, stop this while you can. The Rites might work with Alister, but once they find out you’re leveraging his daughter they will come after you. You know it. These new rulers are different. Cillian and Damian, even Titan King and his crazy wife Nova—they don’t take kindly to women as bartering chips.”