Chapter 67

He moves slowly, bringing his nose to mine. I flinch away, still caught in another place of darkness and rage in parts of my mind, and stare at him with sheer big-eyed mistrust, fresh tears rolling down my face as I recoil. His expression crumbles. Unconcealed heartbreak waves over the face that I love so much normally, but right now, I can’t connect the two.

“I’m going to let you go now… stay calm. I don’t want you to hurt yourself.” He swallows hard and slowly takes the iron grip from my wrists as he moves his dead weight from on top of me. Carefully, cautiously untangling his limbs, painfully slow so I can regain control of myself.

As soon as there’s the relief of pressure and the weight lifting, I move with rapid speed and newfound strength. Skating backward on my hands and butt until my back hits a solid surface and slams me to a halt, staring at my attacker in terror. I curl up into a ball at the foot of the couch, my back pressed hard against it, eyes wide, watchi