Page 169 of His To Erase

His eyes search mine like he’s sifting through rubble for the truth. “What happened before you got here, Ani?”

He’s so close I can’t breathe. And still—I lie.

“I don’t remember.” I say, forcing the words through trembling lips. He stares at me for a long moment.

Then soft and almost deadly. “You remember enough to be scared.”

The words land like a punch to the gut, but I don’t flinch. I refuse. Instead, I tilt my head, eyes burning into his like I might set him on fire.

“Yeah?” I whisper. “And what are you so scared of, Steven?”

That gets him. It’s just the smallest flicker, but I see it. The vein in his neck pulses and his nostrils flare. That unreadable calm in his eyes ripples for half a second, like I found the wire he didn’t want touched. I take a step toward him now, my voice is more controlled.

“You follow me. You watch me like I’m a weapon you’re waiting to use—but you never tell me why. You don’t ask. You don’t trust. You just… hover. Like you’re waiting for the part where I prove you right.”

I pause, the cold air biting at my lips.

“So tell me, what is it exactly that you’re waiting for me to do? Slip up? Bleed? Or just disappear, like everyone else you’ve ever touched?”

His eyes darken. But he doesn’t answer. Because I hit something. And for the first time since I met him—he doesn’t look like he’s in control.

Steven

She thinks I don’t know her patterns yet? I could find that girl in a blackout with nothing but the sound of her breath. I could map the rhythm of her panic in my fucking sleep.

And somehow that’s the part I can’t stomach.

I shouldn’t know her like this—shouldn’t crave the sound of her unraveling. Fuck, I shouldn’t feel my pulse shift every time she runs. But I do. And it’s rotting something inside me I didn’t think I had left.

She’s twitchy, paranoid, and always calculating exits.

I see the tension in her jaw, and the way her eyes go flat like she’s somewhere else. I see the way she wraps her arms tighter like she’s trying to keep something in.

She’s hiding something and I’m done waiting for crumbs. This was never about me. Which makes what I do next feel… inevitable.

I’m behind her before I even register the movement, hunger flares under my skin. When I grab her arm and yank her around, she gasps—but it’s not fear in her eyes.

It’s fury. Wild, sharp-edged fury that makes my cock twitch. I can also see the heat in her eyes, she wants me.

“Let go of me,” she bites, shoving at my chest.

I pin her to the nearest tree, caging her in while one hand grips her hip and the other wraps around her wrist tight enough to feel her pulse.

“You done lying to me yet?” I growl against her jaw. “Or do I need to fuck the truth out of you too?”

Her chest heaves. “Fuck you.”

I smirk, leaning in close enough to taste the anger shaking off her skin. “You already did, sweetheart.”

My voice drops, “And if you wanted another round, all you had to do was ask.”

I press in closer, and her back arches, and I can feel her tits pushing into me begging for my hands. I don’t know if it’s defiance or desire that’s fueling her right now and I don’t care.

“Tell me why you ran.”

Her mouth opens, but no sound comes out, so I drag my hand down her thigh and squeeze.

“You gonna answer me?” my lips brush her ear. “Or should I remind you how loud you get when you beg?”