Page 74 of Riot’s Revenge

“I just didn’t know how to stop bein’ who I’d always been,” he admitted quietly. “By the time I realized I was gonna lose you over it, I already had.”

I tilted my head back and closed my eyes, willing the tears away, but some spilled over anyway.

“I was acting like you were already my woman while still keeping one foot out the door.”

Silence stretched painfully between us.

“I let you build a life with me while I kept pretending the rules didn’t apply to me. Give me a second chance, please?”

The words were so quiet I almost didn’t recognize them coming from him. Riot didn’t ask for things. He took them, but he was asking me.

Part of me wanted to say yes. I wanted to crawl into that bed beside him, bury my face against his chest and pretend the last few weeks had never happened. I wanted the apartment back. The terrible coffee. His boots by the door. His arms around me in the middle of the night. I wanted him, I just didn’t know if I could.

“I forgive you.”

Riot smiled weakly at me.

I swallowed around the ache in my throat. “I believe you’re sorry. I do.”

Something that looked like hope flickered across his face.

“But that doesn’t mean I’m ready to come back.”

The hope disappeared, his eyes dulled, and his lips pulled down. “Ria⁠—”

“No.” I shook my head, tears burning my eyes again. “You asked me to give you another chance, and I’m telling you I don’t know if I can yet.”

He swallowed hard and nodded.

“I love you,” I whispered. “That hasn’t changed. I wish it had sometimes, because it would be a hell of a lot easier.”

Riot stared at me.

“But loving you was never the problem.” I wiped angrily beneath one eye. “Trusting you is.”

“I know.”

“I need more than you telling me it’ll be different.”

His eyes stayed on mine. “Okay.”

“I need to see it.”

“Okay,” he repeated. Determination in his features.

I reached for his hand before I could talk myself out of it and his fingers closed around mine immediately.

“I accept your apology,” I whispered. “But I’m not promising you anything else.”

His thumb moved slowly across my knuckles, then his eyes lifted to mine. “Ria?”

“What?”

“I love you too.”

My breath caught, because it was the first time he’d ever said it. The words I’d wanted from him for so long were finally mine, but they didn’t erase what had happened. They couldn’t.

So, I sat there holding his hand and let myself believe one thing. Riot loved me. Whether that was enough to find our way back to each other was something he still had to prove.