“Correct.” He leaned into me. “You save mine. Now tell me, Daphne, how the hell are you supposed to do that from Maine?”
“You made me go,” I winced.
“But I did not make you stay.”
“Yes, you did,” my voice cracked. “You told me to.”
“And you fucking listened,” Thay said so low that I felt it in my bones, the force of his words dragging me under.
But he was wrong.
I paused, watching Thay’s long lashes fall, touching the scar at the top of his cheek.
“No, I didn’t,” I mouthed against his lips, and his eyes rolled open.
“Yes, you did, Daphne,” he snarled, not bothering to wipe the tears streaking down his face. “Where the fuck do you think we are right now?”
“Not here.” I guided his hand to my heart. “Not where it matters.”
Thay scoffed, shaking his head in a brutal laugh.
“I kept my stuff packed. It is sitting by the goddamn door!” I pointed to nowhere, and he rolled his eyes. “I called you every thirty minutes. Fell asleep next to you on the phone and spent every spare moment searching for flights out of here.”
“Not good enough.” He shoved my touch away.
“YOU TOLD ME TO STAY, AND I DID!” I crawled in closer until the base of his neck slammed the headrest.
“WHY?” His shout was louder and meaner, but no less desperate. “I will tell you why, because THIS is what you want.”
“No!” I cupped his face, pulling him tighter against me.
“What the fuck do you mean, no? Where are you right the fuck now?”
“WHERE YOU PUT ME!” My fist hit his chest, but he did not budge. “When we were younger, and you told me to stay, to wait, not to move an inch, what did I do?”
His jaw flexed.
“I listened. When you tell me to fucking do something, Thay, I listen… until the moment I don’t.”
His breath was a ragged, shivering mess of pain and surrender.
Suddenly, I could not keep it in. Not the way the moldy curtains billowed in a back-alley breeze. Not the feel of him against my spine at every age, in every place. I could no longer deny how Maine rounded me out and shoved me into corners to die, or how I was waiting for permission to come home.
Everything splintered.
Everything.
“You’re mine,” I growled against him, and he gasped, his dark lashes fluttering against me. “I don’t desire any of this. I want you.”
And I did. All of him.
My hands swept along his chest, but he stayed rigid, ice cold under my touch.
But I guess he did not want all of me.
“Fine.” I shoved off him, but he caught me by the ass and slid me across his lap. “No! You selfish piece of shit.” I leaned away to avoid his heart and the way it thundered between us. “You think I do not feel abandoned? Hurt? Alone?”
His eyebrow lifted in challenge, sending bolts of madness into my mouth.