Page 123 of Piece Us Together

He loosens his hold even more on my hair, now just stroking it. I can feel his breath on my face. He’s closer. I want to look, but I’m too afraid.What if he’s more upset than he sounds? What if he’s disappointed? What if he tells me I ruined everything after all and that I have to leave?

“What did I promise you, Maison?”

His hand relaxes. I breathe. I say, “You promised you wouldn’t let me ruin it.”

“I keep my promises. Which means you haven’t ruined a fucking thing. Do you understand?”

“Y-yeah,” I whisper, not because I believe him, but because I’m desperate enough to pretend, if he’s willing to do the same.

His hand tightens. “Look at me.”

I don’t want to.

“Look. At. Me.”

I force my eyes open, hating how raw they feel. My whole body is raw, inside and out. It’s like I’m flayed open for him. It scares me. Or maybe it scares me how much it doesn’t scare me.

His expression is calm.

It’s also—it’spleased.The kind of pleased he gets when Nolan takes pain really well or shows his submissiveness in an unexpected way.

But Nolan isn’t here.

Hunter is pleased withme.

I don’t feel weak or wrung out anymore. I don’t feel untethered or raw. I feel like he scooped out all of the bad and poured in some much-needed good. I feel like he’s claimed me, grounded me, tied me to him in ways he doesn’t ever plan on undoing.

It feels like no matter how hard I try, I won’t be able to ruin things.

“Before you showed up here tonight, you hadn’t ruined anything. Was I upset you left before we could talk? Yes. Was I upset you ignored my attempts to reach out? Yes. But I was only giving you space. I was not letting us come to an end. Which means you did not ruin this, do you understand? What happened—you getting triggered, you yelling, you leaving, all of it—didn’t ruin anything.”

I realize he’s using past tense.

I hadn’t ruined anythingbeforeI showed up here tonight. This was the final nail. This is what brought everything crumbling down.

The world is tugged out from under my feet. The tether is cut. The good inside of me turns toxic and heavy.

Panic crawls through my veins, making me itch and shake. I want to tear myself apart to escape it. The only reason I don’t is because Hunter is touching me and I’d have to tear him apart too. He doesn’t deserve that.

He doesn’t deserve me.

Is he doing this out of pity? Or because he wants Nolan so badly he’s willing to deal with me too?

“I don’t care,” I lie. It’s weak, but it’ll get better. I’m a professional. I’ll make it believable. “Fuck it. I hope I did ruin it. I hope—”

He squeezes again.

I narrow my eyes on him, bucking against his grip. He just raises an unimpressed eyebrow.

“Fuck you,” I manage to choke out.

He tightens the hold, closing off part of my throat along with the two arteries he’s been focusing on. His palm could crush my windpipe with just a twitch of his hand.

I stare into his eyes, trying desperately to cling to my resolve. If I end this now, it won’t hurt as badly. If I end this now, I’ll never have to worry about ruining it again.

The moment his hand relaxes and my head clears, I tell him, “You’re not the fucking boss of me.”

“Is that so?” He tilts his head as his fingers flex. It’s a light squeeze this time. Just enough to make me feel it. “Want to test that? Or are you ready to be a good boy?”

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