Page 70 of Fractured Loyalties

I blink at it. “Is this…?”

He doesn’t let me finish. “It’s not a bribe. I don’t need to buy you. I just want you to know that for the rest of my life, I’myours. Even if you change your mind, even if you kill me in my sleep, I’m fucking yours. It’s not about you being mine anymore…” His voice trails off. “It’s just about being yours.”

I stare at the ring, then at him, then back at the ring. My pulse is a drumline in my ears.

“You’re nervous,” I say, because his hands are shaking and mine are too.

“I know.” His eyes are wet, but he doesn’t look away. “I’m a monster, Ivy. But I want forever with you. Not the fairy tale version, the real kind. The kind where we fuck up and make each other crazy and never let go.”

A tear slips out before I can stop it. I laugh and wipe it away.

“I’d do it all again,” I say, voice thick. “Every mistake, every nightmare. If it got me here, with you, I’d make the same mess twice.”

He slides the ring onto my finger. “Marry me,” he says, like it’s a dare.

“Yes.” I lean in for a kiss, and our lips meet. It’s charged with hope for the future, and for a safety that no one could ever give me but him.

The past may haunt some people.

But I don’t feel haunted at all. I just feel at home.