Page 173 of Untamed

I stare at the dark glass, heart pounding, stomach twisted into something tight and painful. Like if I walk through those doors, something about us shifts for good.

Ares watches me, fingers twitching slightly at his side, like he wants to reach for me, but won’t.

Finally, I speak. “Is this how it’s going to be now?”

He doesn’t answer right away. Then, quietly, “What do you mean?”

“This.” I gesture between us. “The silence. The tension. I feel like we’ve taken ten steps back, and you’ve gone back to how we used to be. Like you’re keeping a wall up because things got too real.”

His eyes narrow. “I’m not keeping a wall up, Jordyn.”

I raise a brow. “No?”

He steps closer, close enough that I can feel his heat again, smell the leather of his jacket, the faint trace of coffee on his breath.

His voice drops, low and gruff. “You think if I didn’t want you, I’d be here? That I’d bring you myself instead of sending someone else?”

“Then say something,” I whisper. “Because right now, I don’t know what the hell we are or how to act around you.”

His eyes drop to my lips, then lower and when he looks back at me, he’s all Ares again, dark, brooding, and mine.

“It’s not you I’m angry with, bambina,” he grits out. “It’s me. I let my guard down. I never do that.” His hands flex at his sides like he’s bracing for a fight, not with me, with himself.

“Twice now, I’ve lost control. And both times, it was with you.”

His eyes flash. “Last night, when you asked me not to pull out, and pulled me deeper, I should have protected you. I should have known better, been stronger. I wasn’t. I lost control. That’s on me, not you.”

The air crackles between us, heavy with unspoken words and raw emotion. I search his face for answers, but all I see is a storm raging behind those dark eyes, one part regret, two parts resolve.

“A kid? A future?” He scoffs. “That shit doesn’t belong in my world.” His eyes meet and hold mine, dark and burning. “And neither do you.”

His knuckle brushes my cheek and I lean into it. “But you’re already the one thing I never meant to let in… and I can’t seem to let go.” Words stick like glass in my throat.

“Now go in there,” he murmurs, “and take care of this. Not because I said so. Because you know it’s the right thing to do.”

I nod, swallowing the lump in my throat.

“And Jordyn,” he adds as I turn toward the door. I glance back and his eyes are molten. “I’m still inside you in every way that matters.”

I blink at him, stunned by the credence of the words.

They hit me low and deep, right where I’ve been trying to hold everything in place.

For a moment, I just stare at him. At the man who says so little and yet somehow manages to leave me shattered with the few words hedoesgive.

Then I speak, keeping my tone quiet, but steady. “That’s the problem, Ares. You are.”

His brows dip, like he doesn’t understand.

“You’re in my thoughts when I try to forget. You’re in my chest when I try to breathe. You’re everywhere. All the time.” I shake my head slightly, eyes stinging. “And I don’t know how to carry that.”

His face doesn’t change, but I swear something flickers in his eyes...a crack in the steel.

I take a small step closer, not touching him, but not backing down either. “So don’t say things like that unless you mean them. Because I will believe you. Even when I know I shouldn’t.”

A muscle ticks in his jaw. For a moment, I’m convinced he won’t say anything. And just as I’m about to turn and go inside, hesteps forward, slow and deliberate, until his chest nearly brushes mine.

“I don’t say things I don’t mean,” he murmurs, his voice like gravel and thunder. “You should know that by now, amore mio.”

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