Page 117 of The Villain

My eyes flung open, fear driving them wide. Too wide. Instantly, light blinded me, and I made a weak noise of pained relief.There was light.

And him.

“Darius.” My voice didn’t sound like my own, a familiar dryness in my throat as I carefully opened my eyes once more.

His beautiful face crystallized in front of me. The tense edge of his jaw. His full lips. The scar along his cheek. And those dark eyes—full of worry and hope and something infinitely more.

“I’m here, Angel.” He pulled my hand to his mouth, pressing his lips to the back of my knuckles as he murmured, “I’m here.”

Here.Bright lights. White walls. Sterile scent.I was in the hospital.And it was a sensor attached to my fingertip; that was what I was feeling—and hearing. The rhythmic beeps reached my ears from the monitors on the other side of the bed.

“What happened?” I croaked and tried to turn toward him, my entire body protesting with aches and pains, my memory a foggy equivalent.

He shifted, and I noticed his left arm was back in a sling—a new one. One that looked far more necessary than the last.Along with the cast on his arm.

“You saved me,” he rasped. “You saved my life.”

Saved…for a moment, I thought my memory might be lost again. How many times could I traumatize my brain and expect it to still function like normal? But then details started to float to the surface—details that seemed far too clear to be anything but real.

The gallery. The gun.The detonator in Wenner’s hand.I gasped, the slight motion spreading pain through my chest.

“Careful. You have a few cracked ribs.”

I ignored him and the pain. “There was a bomb—he put a bomb on your bike.” Tears welled in my eyes, recalling the look on Dare’s face when he’d seen me in the car. And when he’d chased us to try and save me, I swore I could feel his pain and confusion in my very bones.

“I know?—”

“I had to keep you away. Wenner said if you got too close, he’d kill you,” I rambled, trying to blurt out all the things I hadn’t been able to tell him as I drove away from him before. “He—” I sucked in a breath and then started over. “He told me to get in the car and drive.”

The beeping beside me came faster, reliving brief flashes of those minutes held at gunpoint in the car. Told to drive faster. To lose him. The aching glances in the rearview mirror like I could reflect my plea all the way back to the man I loved.

“I didn’t know what else to do. He was going to kill you. I”—my breath caught—“I had to get you off the bike.”

“I know?—”

“Are you okay?” My lip quivered. “I’m so sorry.”

His eyes glimmered. “Don’t be sorry, Angel. You saved my life.”

I tried to swallow over the lump in my throat, tears pricking in the corners of my eyes. “You broke something.” I nodded to the cast—an immovable one around his arm.

“We both did,” he rumbled. “My arm. Collarbone. You cracked a few ribs. Cuts, scrapes, bruises, and burns. All survivable. All because of you.”

I let out a shaky breath, curling my fingers a little tighter around his. “Dare?—”

“I love you,” he interrupted me, the words leaving his lungs with the force of a gale wind. “I love you, Athena Holman.”

“Dare…”

“I love your kindness. Your compassion. Your talent and dedication. Your strength and bravery. But mostly, I love your generous, selfless spirit.”

My chest shook, tears coming hot and fast down my cheeks.

“You more than saved my life, Athena. You saved my heart. My soul.”

“I love you, too,” I choked out, reaching for his cheek and pulling his face to mine.

Between the two of us, I was sure we were a sight. Battered and bruised and bandaged, but blissful. Completely blissful as his mouth claimed mine.

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