Page 62 of Bear Naked Truth
DORIAN
Even though part of Dorian wanted to fall at her feet and kiss the dirt she’d walked to get back here, the other part, stronger and steadier, was done being her landing pad only when the ghosts got too loud.
He cleared his throat, low and rough.
“You don’t get to keep doing this though,” he said, not harsh, but not soft either.
Her head jerked up. “What?”
“Coming here. Leaving. Coming back again like I’m just—here—waiting to be convenient.”
Autumn stiffened, shoulders rising like a drawbridge. “I didn’t mean for it to be like that.”
“Well, itislike that.” His voice cracked at the edges, sharp as a splinter.
“You come into my life like lightning, burn everything clean, and then vanish the second it starts to feel real.” He turned to face her now, eyes storm-dark. “And I’ve let it happen. Over and over.”
“I needed time,” she said, voice small but hard. “You knew that.”
“I gave you time, Autumn. Igave you space.I carved your damn name into wood.”
Her eyes went glassy, and he hated the way that gutted him.
“You think this is easy for me?” she snapped, voice shaking now. “You think Iwantedto run?”
“I think you did what you’ve always done. What you said you were done doing.”
“I was scared.”
“Iam too!” he shouted, standing now, pacing the porch like a caged thing. “You think it’s easy waiting here wondering if this is the time you leave anddon’tcome back?”
She flinched.
Good.
Let it sink in. Let her feel what it was to be the one left holding the weight.
“I’m not a damn lighthouse,” he said, chest heaving. “I can’t keep shining just to help you find your way in the fog.”
Autumn stood too, rising slow, tears streaming now but unhidden.
“I never asked you to be.”
“You didn’t have to,” he said, voice quieter now. “You just assumed I would. I told you I’d wait for you, but this feels like toying with me the more it happens.”
Silence snapped between them.
She stepped forward. Just one step. Then another. Until she was in front of him, eyes wild and wrecked.
“You’re right,” she said. “I did. Ido. Because you’ve been the only place I’ve ever felt safe. And that scared the hell out of me.”
He didn’t move.
“Everywhere I go,” she whispered, “the dead follow. I don’t get peace. I don’t get tokeepthings. But you—youmade me want to try.”
He looked at her fully then.
Hair wild from wind. Eyes red. Hands fisting at her sides like she couldn’t bear not to touch him. And he broke.
