Page 172 of Fangs
“It’s alright, you were just dreamin’,” he murmured into my ear.
I shook my head. No, that was not a dream.
“You’re safe, Freckles.” He sounded a little more awake now. “I’m right here.”
He squeezed me tight, and a pained sound escaped my lips. He immediately released me.
“Did I hurt you?” he demanded.
“My back’s just sore,” I whispered.
“Your back is sore?” he repeated. “Is that normal?”
I nodded, but I didn’t want to talk about my back. “It’s fine.”
He sighed but gently wrapped his arms around me, tugging me back onto the bed and pulling the blankets around us again. It looked like it was almost dawn, and the dark sky was beginning to lighten. He wrapped his body around mine, and I rested my head on his shoulder, clenching my trembling hands.
What the fuck was that? Maybe itwasa dream?
No, I knew better. It was never Trey.
Tears filled my eyes. I wasn’t sure if it was better or worse that it had never been him. Had he tried? Was it even possible?
What had Sam called him? The Mental Menace? Menace was right. I was furious that he’d pretended to be Trey. He’d fuckingkissedme, and I’d kissed him back. He said, “I love you,” for fuck’s sake. Seeing Trey had destroyed the fragile progress I’d made, sent me down a dark spiralagain,and it wasn’t even him. I wanted to scream or burst into tears, or maybe both. I thought I had a decent grasp on what Menace wanted and how he would act, but now I was confused again. Every other time I’d interacted with him, he’d been arrogant, reckless, and entitled. He hadn’t been any of those things while pretending to be Trey. If he hadn’t slipped up and called me “love,” I might have never figured it out. My skin crawled. How long would he have kept pretending?
Lee shifted, and his fingers gently brushed away tears. “You want to talk about it?”
For a brief second, I considered it. We were entwined together, and I felt safe, warm, and comfortable with him. It would be nice to get all of this out of my head, and maybe it would ease the pain of my heart breaking all over again.
But I hadn’t told Wolf anything about Menace, and I wasn’t sure if Ishould.It wasn’t something to dump on Lee with no warning. I couldn’t forget they were bounty hunters.
“Freckles?” Lee murmured.
“Just a bad dream,” I whispered, more miserable tears escaping. I wished Mac or Sam were here so I could talk to one of them.
We lay quietly until I finally managed to calm down. An embarrassed flush crept into my cheeks. I was so fucking sick of crying.
“You want a distraction, then?” he asked in a low, suggestive voice, and my stomach lurched for a very different reason.
“What kind of distraction?”
“Whatever kind you’d like.”
Fuck he was smooth. “What if I want you to do a flip?”
“Then I’d do a flip.” I could hear the smile in his voice.
“What if I want you to sing?”
“Then I’d sing.”
My skin felt heated, but I could feel the tidal wave of grief I was barely holding back.
You would devote yourself to a man who died and left you here alone?
I shoved away the memory of Menace’s words, but I couldn’t deny I had no idea if it was even possible to move on from Trey. Part of me longed to be touched, but how could I let someone else touch me after Trey? How could I touch someone else after Trey? The thought of caring about someone, lovingsomeone like I’d loved Trey, seemed impossible. My eyes filled with fucking tearsagain.
Sounds pretty lonely,Lee had said, and he was right.
