Page 73 of Almost Rotten

“Sweetheart, we’re alone,” I assure her. Tentatively, I reach out again, ducking to meet her warm brown eyes. “He’s not out here. He can’t touch you. How can he have you so goddamn scared?”

Huffing, she shakes her head. “I’m not scared.” She pulls her shoulders back. “I’m just… aware. I know how he can be. How he gets. I don’t want to cause a scene or make things worse.”

The hair on the back of my neck stands on end. “Worse than what?” I step in closer. “What has he done and why are you withdrawing?”

She crosses her arms over her chest, causing the pale crests of her breasts to peek out above the neckline of her dark green cardigan. Hidden away like this, I should be copping a quick feel or stealing a hungry kiss. Instead I’m begging for information and desperate for her to give me any sort of honest update.

“I—I can’t explain it. I’m sorry.”

“What isit, Sawyer? Are you with him?”

Are you ending us?

That’s the question I should ask, but I’m terrified of the answer, so I choke the words back.

“I don’t know.” She lowers her head. “Ty thinks we’re together. Still.”

Anger builds inside me, coming to a slow simmer. “And what do you think, Sawyer? Are you with him, and what does that mean for us?”

For me. For her. For Noah.

Jesus H.

She hugs herself tighter. “I already told you; I don’t know. I’m sorry. I’m just—I’m confused. And I feel like I’m letting you down. I promised you one week, but I think I need more time to deescalate the situation.”

I grind my molars, causing pain to shoot up my temples. “Are you asking for an extension, Ms. Davvies?”

Her eyes are hollow, watery when they finally meet mine. “No. That’s not fair to you.”

“So what?” I grit out. It takes everything in me not to shout. “We’re over? You’re with him now? Just put me out of my goddamn misery and tell me what the hell is going on.”

Sniffling, she swipes away a single tear. “I don’t want this to be over.”

That’s not enough. Regardless of her desire to be with me, I need to know if she can reciprocate my feelings, full stop.

My rage reaches a rolling boil as seeds of worthlessness try to take root. She doesn’t know the details of my past—who I was with and what he did. She doesn’t know the depth of my trauma. She’s not intentionally trying to hurt me.

And yet…

“I can’t be someone’s dirty little secret or second choice.” It hurts to even utter the words, because once upon a time, I was both.

I was both and I was so willing to take the mere scraps another person gave. To this day, the scars from loving Colton hurt morethan any self-inflicted injury. The invisible wounds left behind fester and flare at the most inopportune times.

Like now. When I’m desperate for this woman to rekindle what was sparking between us.

I take a deep, cleansing breath, tamping down on the storm of emotions brewing inside me.

“If you want out, tell me you want out.”

“No,” she bites back, her default sass finally—fucking finally—flaring back to life. “I don’t want out. I wantyou, dammit. And Noah. I want you both, so fucking much. But what’s happening—”

“What is happening, petit diable?”

Sawyer snaps her mouth closed, her eyes fluttering shut as Tytus appears at the mouth of the alcove.

I surge forward on instinct, but before I can insert myself between Sawyer and the man-child, he’s positioned himself against a wall and pulled Sawyer against him, her back to his front.

He hooks his chin over her shoulder, his dark eyes burning into me. Smirking, he drags a hand around to the front of her body and holds her possessively.