Page 112 of His Fury

I faced him. He lay on his back, gazing at the ceiling. After watching him for a moment, I whispered, “What are you thinking?”

He didn’t answer right away. When he spoke, his voice was firm and steady. “That you’re still here.”

My heart twisted. “Were you worried I wouldn’t be?”

“Good things tend to disappear from my life.” He turned his head to look at me. “Are you the exception?”

I reached out, my fingers brushing against the inside of his forearm. His skin felt warm and solid.Human. “I’m not going anywhere, Zayn.”

“The jacuzzi was that good?” he asked, and I laughed at his playfulness.

“It was perfect.” I snuggled into his side. “Almost as perfect as being here with you.” I looked up at him. “I’m not leaving.”

“I know,” he said though he still sounded as if he wereconvincing himself. “I have to go back to the club,” he murmured softly. “But I’ll wait for you to fall asleep first.”

“I’d like that.”

We lay there like that, the silence comfortable between us. I inched closer to him, my head tucked against his shoulder, one leg hooking over his as if I’d done it a hundred times before. He adjusted slightly, pulling the blanket higher over my shoulder, then he pressed a kiss to the top of my head.

Just as I was drifting into sleep, I heard his soft murmur. “I would give you the world, Isla.”

I felt him pull away, and my fingers caught in his shirt, stopping him. “I don’t need the world, Zayn,” I told him, my eyes heavy with sleep and my body relaxed. “I just need this.” I released his shirt. “I just need you.”

Lips pressed into mine, soft and gentle, before he pulled away.

In the darkness, I heard his voice, low and rough. “You’ll always have me.”

I heard the door close, and sleep enveloped me, pulling me into a deep, comfortable slumber.

I would stay with him even though his life was filled with fire and danger. When you loved someone and their world burned with danger at every turn, you learned to survive in the ashes.

CHAPTER 27

ZAYN

I satin the car for a moment, centering myself. I really wanted to go back into the house, get ready for bed, and slide back into bed alongside my girl.

She loved me.

She hadn’t said the words, not directly to me. But she wanted to know what loving me might cost her.

Everything.

It could cost her everything, and I needed her to understand that. My palm hit the steering wheel in frustration. Itshouldcost hernothing. Any other person in a normal relationship doesn’t enter it expecting to loseanything. It’s aboutgainingsomething.

Two was better than one; that was how it was supposed to be, right? You brought something, they brought something, and both of you gained. So why did it feel like I was the only one gaining when it came to me and Isla? What wasIgiving up for her?

Nothing.

Exhaling deeply, I started the car. It didn’t change anything. She wanted to be with me, and that was all thatmattered. The rest...well, the rest we’d figure out. As long as it was together, I didn’t give a fuck who sacrificed what; as long as she was in my bed every night, I’d sort out the rest.

Figuring shit out. It was what I did best. It was what I wasknownfor. With a final lingering look at the house, I drove away.

I spent the journey compartmentalizing everything I needed to regain control. Isla’s presence in my life was both something I wanted and needed, but I didn’t like the idea that others might see me as vulnerable.

Rye mentioned that she clearly saw something today that spooked her. He didn’t know what it was, and I hadn’t asked her directly. I was waiting for her to share it with me. I also wasn’t a patient man, especially when it came to my girl, so if she didn’t tell me tomorrow, I’d ask her. I wanted her to approach me with things, but I had no problem asking her directly if I had to.

Fuck this. I wasn’t a relationship guy; I never had been and never wanted to be in one. The closest thing I had to a partner in my life was Rye. The guy was like a brother. If I wanted my dick sucked, I found a woman in the same life as me, who wanted no strings as much as I did.

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