Page 18 of Betrayed By Sin
A warning.
I search his face for answers, butall I find are more questions.
“Then tell me what they are.”
He hesitates,his jaw tightening.Then, finally, he shakes his head.
“Not yet.”
Frustration flares in my chest.“Then why call me here? Just to tell me to be careful?”
His gazedarkens, inked fingers twitching at his sides.
He lifts a hand as if to touch me, then drops it just as quickly.
“Because I needed to see you.”
My breath catches, but Iforce myself to stay steady.
“And now that you have?” I ask, my voice trembling with a mix of anger and desperation.
His jaw locks, his throat bobbing as he swallows. “Now…” he looks around. “I don’t know. For the first time in my thirty fucking years on this planet Magnolia, I do not know.”
Something inside me fractures, the pain radiating through my chest like a thousand shards of glass. I don’t realize I’m shaking until I clench my fists, trying to hold myself together. “If you hate them, and they hate you… what can be done?” I whisper, my voice barely audible.
“We can’t be.” He doesn’t move. And neither do I. The stars gleam above us, silent witnesses to a war neither of us knows how to win.
“After everything you did to me, I am here. I didn’t know if I should have even come, but Sin I know you. I know you’re more than what you seem.”
The silence stretches between us, heavy and suffocating. I can feel the weight of his gaze on me, the unspoken words hanging in the air like a noose. My heart aches with a longing I can’t quite put into words, a desperate need for something I know I can never have.
“Why?” I choke out, my voice breaking. “Why did you have to come back into my life, just to leave me again?”
His eyes soften, a flicker of pain crossing his features. “Because I couldn’t stay away,” he admits, his voice raw with emotion. “But I can’t stay either. It’s too dangerous.”
Tears blur my vision, and I blink them away furiously. “You don’t get to make that choice for me,” I say, my voice rising. “You don’t get to decide what’s best for me.” I don’t care that I’m begging for him, for us. I know he betrayed me, but my heartcannotbetray him.
He takes a step closer, his hand reaching out as if to touch me, but he stops himself. “I’m trying to protect you, Magnolia. I’m trying to keep you safe.”
I laugh bitterly, the sound hollow and empty. “Safe from what? From you? From the truth?”
“From everything,” he whispers, his voice barely audible. “From the world that wants to tear us apart.”
I shake my head, the tears finally spilling over. “I don’t care about the world. I care about you. I care about us.”
His eyes glisten with unshed tears, and for a moment, I see the vulnerability he tries so hard to hide. “I care about you too,” he says, his voice breaking. “More than you’ll ever know.”
“Then stay,” I plead, my voice cracking. “Stay with me. Fight for us.”
He closes his eyes, a single tear slipping down his cheek. “I can’t,” he whispers. “I’m not strong enough to lose you.”
The words hit me like a physical blow, and I stagger back, the pain overwhelming. “Then you’re a coward,” I say, my voice shaking with anger and heartbreak. “You’re a coward for not fighting for what we have.”
“I know.” He runs an inked hand down his face in exasperation. It’s such a familiar site that has me longing for the good and bad days with him.
I force out a question that’s been brewing in my chest. “Did Bria know?”
His body stiffens.
