“Asshole as always,” I nodded. “He’s taking a piss.”
“I miss you,” she leaned forward as if she were about to kiss me, and nudged the phone with her nose.
I fucking adored that perfect little scrunch. I could kiss it forever, and maybe one day, I would.
“Oh yeah? How much?” I asked out of reflex, the question hitting me square in the gut.
Daphne paused, lips tilting, twisting my heart before she muttered, “Ten.”
Ten.
She saidten.
Fucking ten.
I broke.
Nathem had warned it would come quietly, and it did. Not in her body or her soul, but in the fact she loved me… anyway. Just like Threx had fucking said. The universe might have thrown them together, but I was her choice, which was better. Which made what I was about to do even more necessary.
I closed my eyes, hitting the alley wall, allowing the heaviness of her words to drag me down on my ass. I did not care that I was sitting in filth, crying for the first time I could remember.
Fucking hell, I did not know how to do this.
“Wolfe?” she snapped, forcing me to her eyes. “What is going on? Are you okay?”
I searched her face for answers, all four walls of the universe tilting their heads to watch me die.
“No, babe. I’m not,” I attempted a half-smile, despite the salt filling my mouth. “I am about to tell you something you are not going to like, but I need you to listen.”
Daphne’s breath faltered, fear and dread fighting for space in her chest as she searched me.
“It turns out the shit with Lyla was more complicated than we thought, and I have a meeting tomorrow that may not go very well.”
“What do you mean?” her voice cracked, the center of everything splitting in two.
“They want my club, Daph, and they wantyou.” We stared at each other. “But the thing is, I will not let them have either, whatever the cost.”
“Stop,” she puffed her cheeks, shaking her head at me, thinking it would be enough.
Damn, she was so goddamn pretty.
“You’ve got this, and you will fix it, just like you always do.”
“This isn’t childbirth, Daphne. This is broken people playing broken games. How we fix things down here is not the same.”
Daphne paled, the color in her cheeks going hollow.
“I watched Threx give you his soul,” my voice slipping when a sob ripped through me. “This ismyten. I refuse to let them have you. I won’t let them take me, either.”
“Wolfe. Stop,” she pleaded, making no attempt to wipe the tears from her eyes.
“I remember the day you stumbled into my bedroom for the first time in Threx’s oversized shirt and a pair of socks pulled up to your knees. I was so jealous of him! Even before I knew I was.”
“Please,” she slumped, but the words kept tumbling out.
“You are so goddamn perfect.”
“I am not,” she argued, shaking her head.