Page 58 of V for Vengeance

I wasn’t following again, but Cash didn’t seem to care.

“I’m counting on it. Just trust me, darling. I always planned to do this alone, but you being there makes the difference. Not your power but your mere presence. Have it my way and you won’t need to lift a bloody finger to help. You will, however, see what Icanandwilldo for you after tonight. You’ll never question what I’ll do to keep you safe, or what I’m willing to sacrifice to stay by your side.”

Confused didn’t cover the feeling. I was completely flabbergasted. Why bring me at all if all he planned to do was let me watch? What did he mean when he said “what I’m willing to sacrifice?” What was he sacrificing tonight? His power? His past? His future?

Cash thought he had to prove something to me tonight, but the fact that he’d made himself vulnerable at all was more than enough to convince me. The fact that he stayed mattered. Maybe to others it wasn’t enough, but to me it was.

“You don’t need to—”

“But I do,” he asserted, chin up and cloak-jacket fluttering out behind him. You couldn’t write comedy this ridiculous.

I just didn’t get it. Why did all the men around me insist on proving themselves? They might not like it, but it was something they all had in common. Maybe because they’d been alone and didn’t trust anyone without proof. Or maybe I wasn’t jaded enough. Maybe I was too quick to trust. You’d think being betrayed by friends would put me more on my guard, but all it’d done was make me hold tighter to the people I still had.

Okay, so Phillip had a lot to prove, but he’d done that to himself. That wasn’t because I hadn’t trusted him at the start; that was because he chose to be a stupid asshole and make decisions without bothering to talk to me first. He’d done a good job of making it up to me, but when it came to Cash and Jo, he was still being a stupid asshole, and that was the entire reason I couldn’t trust him to listen when I tried to explain why we went without them.

Ugh.

“You really don’t expect me to just stand there and watch you two duke it out, do you?” I was a little irritated Cash thought I’d ever hang back and let him do everything. “I know I give you a hard time, but I’d never leave you to fight alone. We’re on the same side here. I get that you have a past, but so does everyone in this group.”

If I was there, I’d be fighting.

“That’s why I have to do this, darling. She might be on your list, but this has always been my fight. Only I can finish this tonight.”

My mouth shut.

Did he really think this was on him, or was he worried that I’d fuck it all up again? Sure, I’d failed to subdue Serine at the club, but I’d gotten myself home. Sort of.Fuck. Did everyone around me see me as someone they needed to save? That’d honestly hurt more than anything else.

The gorgeous menace seemed to gather how I was feeling because he quickly added, “I know how powerful you are, darling. You freed yourself from Serine’s prison. The thing is, I never thought for a second you wouldn’t. Those barbarians might underestimate you, but I never have. I knew I’d only be chasing your shadow if I went after you, but I didn’t want you to be alone, so I followed when you didn’t need me to.”

Surprised to hear it, I let loose a breath. “Is that why I found you in the Fae realm?”

Cash peered around us, then nodded. “I’ll tell you anything you wish after slaying the old hag, but we’re running short on time. I sense far more magic now than I did a few minutes ago. She’s preparing her escape. Probably building some kind of portal.”

I didn’t sense the change. It was shameful how little magic I sensed even being the genetic monster I was. But I agreed with him. Now wasn’t the time.

“She doesn’t stand a chance against you, darling, but she’s crafty. She exploits weakness better than anyone I’ve ever known. She shouldn’t be underestimated. From my history with her, we need to act now or lose her again.”

My throat seized. He’d been enslaved for all that time—her imprisoned toy. How did someone come out of that unscathed? How did he look this cool and pretty when he was so close to the same person who’d hurt him for centuries?

If it were me, I wouldn’t be calm. I’d be unraveling. But then again, maybe he was. The way his eyes skipped back and forth,scanning the trees, watching for enemies, the tension in his body visible in his arms and neck, maybe he wasn’t calm. Maybe this was him unraveling.

I wanted to reach out and touch him, soothe the frantic dance his muscles were doing, but I kept my hands to myself. I couldn’t do that to him, not when I wasn’t sure what I meant by it. Pity? Friendship? Comradery? Lust? More?

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to kiss him again. My lips still burned where his had been. He’d managed to enslave me with one kiss, and it was ridiculous how much I wanted another one. But I shook away the vicious thoughts of yearning.

We had a witch bitch to slay.

“I can end her quickly. Trust me to do this, V.” Cash’s purple eyes seemed to penetrate my very soul.

He was asking, not demanding. I could say no. I could tell him to leave it. I could claim his vengeance, and he would let me. I picked up on how vulnerable he’d made himself tonight just by the words he used to convince me.

“Okay, Cash, she’s yours. But I won’t stand by if she hurts you, so if you don’t manage to do it, I will,” I promised with a tight throat.

His eyes widened for a moment. “Hurts me?”

“Yes, Cash. If she hurts you, I’ll step in,” I reiterated firmly. “I’m done watching people I care about get hurt, and if you’re going to trust me with a part of yourself you’ve never given to anyone else, then I’m going to protect it, okay? I know you think you have something to prove, but you don’t. You have a past, but so does everyone here. What you do now is what matters to me.”

As if he’d been hit with the shock of his life, the Dark Fae stood stock-still, mouth agape. But as if he’d been jolted back into action, he moved closer, and our faces were inches apart again. “Those barbarians don’t deserve you,” he whispered, his hot breath painting my lips. “But neither do I.”

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