Page 153 of Drown Like Heaven
“Tell me about the deer again, baby,” Mason softly commanded, correctly figuring out what was making me panic. Aiming right at the unprotected heart of me, like always. The soft center.
“No,” I cried, shaking my head, tears streaming down my cheeks. “No. Stop.”
Mason’s hands were gentle but firm, holding me.
“Why did she run away, baby? Tell me.”
I’m so tired.
I’m so tired of fighting. Of everything.
I grappled for any remaining strength, but I was exhausted. Tears trickled down my cheeks and my muscles were useless. The weight I’d been carrying since I was fourteen was finally crushing me, here in the water with Mason.
If he was going to hate me, to leave me, he would’ve done it when I confessed my worst fantasy.
Right?
Could I really tell him this?
He held the sides of my face and I was gasping, coughing, choking on my sobs as tears squeezed out from under myeyelashes. The shameful sickness inside of me, the horrible rot, was slowly being exposed.
“Did you run away, Dakota?”
Prey.
A lump rose in my throat, my mouth pulling down into a frown. I could hardly see him through my tears as I finally nodded.You were right. I can’t hide from you.Mason held the back of my head, pulling me to his chest, my cheek resting on the damp cotton of his t-shirt.
Anthony’s fingerprints were all over me.
“Why did you run?”
“Because of Anthony,” I choked out, hating the way his name felt on my tongue. Like poison, like something with the power to kill me. And now his name existed aloud here, in Mason’s bathroom, in his mind, too. The water was tainted with the mention of his name, made darker, redder, like I was bleeding for him all over again.
“Did he hurt you?”
“Yes.”
“Who is he? Your ex boyfriend?”
I shook my head, biting my tongue to try and keep from sobbing. But I was tired of being strong. I clung to Mason’s shoulders, pushing my face against his chest, his steady heartbeat in my ear.
Everything was crawling out of me, every secret, every horrible truth.
“He’s my brother.”
Chapter 41
Dakota
“Your brother?” Mason asked quietly, a measure of restraint in his tone.
I nodded, shame and disgust pouring over my tongue and down my throat like acid.
“And he…?”
Another nod.
“Just once?”
