“You’re so naïve,” Blaze shot back. He took a step towards her and she edged back, breathing hard. “You were loved your whole life by your parents. Protected. Sheltered. You got a job fresh out of high school. You’ve known nothing but success and love. You have this fire. It’s not just your beauty, though you are fucking beautiful, it’s your spirit. I wanted it. I saw it and I wanted it and I get what I want. Even if it took years. I wanted to own that fire in you. To fuck you and take it from you and fill up all the bleeding holes inside myself and after I was done, you’d be just a shell.”
“S-stop it!” Colette commanded, her eyes filling up with tears again.
But he couldn’t stop. She had to know who and what he was. All of it. She had to know, because there was no way she could protect herself from him otherwise.
“It’s true. All of it. So, leave. Run. Don’t ever get near me again or I promise, I’ll ruin you.”
That fire that he envied, the flames at the very soul of her, licked their way into her eyes until they were blazing, burning right through him when she blinked her tears away. She edged towards him and he froze, wondering what the hell she was doing. She reached out, her hand trembling, and set it flat against his chest. Right above his horrible, black heart. It slammed into his ribs, kicking hard. Stopping. Starting again. The pain was more than he could bear.
“I would have fought for you,” she said in her sad, lost little voice. “I would have fought so damn hard. I still would. So, when you’re ready, come find me.”
“Why?” he choked out, too stunned to continue driving her away. “I did nothing to deserve any of it. Your goodness is wasted on me.”
She blinked back at him before she lifted her hand and pressed it to her lips. Her eyes fluttered closed and it felt like someone had just shot him, straight to the heart, to see her lips move against her palm. The same palm that had just rested against the gaping hole that she’d never be able to see.
Except, she did. She did see it, and it was like she was kissing his pain away in the only way she could. The only way he’d ever allow, because he couldn’t control it. He couldn’t control her.
“Well, you once said that I was yours. I thought it was creepy and weird, but now… I don’t even get it, but I- I think you were right. We’re connected in some terrible way that I don’t want or understand, but I know it’s not going to go away and we’re just going to have to live with that. So, if you ever decide to get your head out of that nice ass of yours, look me up.”
She turned, like she was nothing more than the wind, powerful but fleeting, impossible to hold onto, and swept out of the room. Then, when he thought she was gone and he was ready to crumble back to the place he thought he’d never be again, a place of darkness and ash, her voice drifted back to him from the door.
“Don’t burn the contract. Keep it somewhere safe while you get your shit together.”
The door shut quietly behind her and then she was gone, her scent still lingering like a ghost behind her, her words wrapping him up, flooding through him, binding up the cracks and creating new ones with a force so painful it broke him. All. Over. Again.
CHAPTER 19
Colette
Eight months.
After eight months, any sane, normal, rational person would have given up hope. She was tempted to, a couple of times, but the fact that she often scanned her inbox and her phone uselessly, hoping to find a message there, spoke to the fact that she may have lost her mind.
Colette didn’t just like her new job. She loved it. Leaving HBAD with a good reference from her peers and members of the HR department, as well as her robust portfolio, ensured that she could get a junior position at most companies. She’d picked one that developed apps strictly related to health and wellness. While she’d feared it would be boring, the pay was good, and she was always up for a challenge.
She’d been pleasantly surprised at how easily she fell into her new position and how much she loved it. Her co-workers were great, and she’d even made a few friends that she hung out outside of work with- a first for her. She loved waking up and trying to think of ways that could improve the lives of their users. Every single day was a new, fresh, exciting challenge.
Over the months, she’d even been asked out. Twice. Once by a co-worker, who she turned down, but helped hook up with one of her good friends from high school, and once by some random guy while she was out shopping antiques. He was hands down gorgeous, with a set of sparkling blue eyes and a nice smile. She was honestly floored that he’d even give her a second look, but she’d made a joke about the antiques she was busy trying to buy being the only room in her life she had for passion outside of work, and let him go on his way.