Something in me gave way the second he said it, the tight, braced part of me loosening all at once like I hadn’t realized how hard I’d been holding on until I didn’t have to anymore. The pressure eased, leaving me light-headed for a second.
I pressed closer without thinking. “You don’t get to take that back,” I breathed, half into his mouth, half into the space between us.
“Not planning on it.”
His lips found mine before I could say anything else. Heat rushed through me so fast it felt disorienting.
It wasn’t just a kiss.
It was something settling into place—shifting to make room for him. Reshaping, stretching, and rewriting itself around the way he held me there.
“Henry—”
I turned my head slightly, pressing my forehead back to his like I needed the contact but couldn’t let him derail me completely.
“Don’t distract me,” I panted.
“I’m not.”
“Yes, you are,” I cut in, pulling back just enough to look at him. “And it’s working, which is the problem.”
His mouth twitched.
“Does this mean I can help?” I pushed. “With this? With whoever the hell thinks they can leave something like that for you?”
“No.”
I blinked. “Are you joking?”
“I told you I don’t want you anywhere near my past.”
I let out a short breath, something almost like a laugh slipping out with it, shaking my head.
“And why not?”
“Because it's tainted with death, and pain, and things more fucked up than you can even imagine.” He pressed his lips against my forehead. “You’re too precious for that.”
God.
He made it hard to be mad at him.
“Henry, you do remember my brother disappeared from my front yard? My mother’s agoraphobic? I eat SSRIs for breakfast and have spent thousands on therapy trying to cure my clethtropbia. Which, by the way, most people don’t recognize as something real.”
“That’s ridiculous. Of course it’s real.”
“My point is, I’m not unstained by trauma, Henry. Whatever it is, I can handle it.”
For you.
For you, I can handleanything.
A pained sound rumbled low in his throat. “It’ll change how you see me.”
“Impossible,” I swore. “There is literally nothing you could say that would change how much I love you. I’m already in too deep,” I pursed my lips. “Like… probably concerningly deep. I should maybe bring this up in therapy.”
“Archibald.”
Archibald.