Page 77 of Keeping Her Under

“You be happy.”

Her jaw drops in disbelief. “And the third…?”

Lifting her hand to my cheek, I cup it against me. “You decide to stay with me. Let me take care of you. I’ll take you around the world. I’ll protect you. Cherish you. I’ll be the monster who follows your every wish. No one will ever hurt you again.” I kiss her hand before giving it a squeeze. “The choice is yours. Whatever you wish.”

She swallows as she stares at me. “I… I…” She shakes her head. “I always make the wrong choice.”

“Never with me,” I say. “Whatever choice you make, I will love you to the end of my days.”

“You won’t though,” she stresses. “I’m broken. There’s something wrong with me. Mother –”

“Fuck your mother.”

Her eyes widen. “Is she still alive?”

“For now.”

“But she’s my mom!”

My jaw tightens. “I called her to tell her you were in a coma.”

She flinches. She tries to jerk her hand away from me, but I tighten my grip. “What did she say?” she rasps.

There’s so much hope in her words but not in her eyes. Deep down she already knows.

“Nothing but lies,” I say softly.

Despite my attempt to curb the worst of it, she still looks like I slapped her. Turning away from me, she closes her eyes. Tears roll down her cheeks.

“I had a horrible mother too,” I say. “She… sold me day after day in exchange for drugs.”

Her eyes pop open; she stares at me in horror. I try to tell myself, there’s no judgement there. No desire for me to shut up and hide my truth.

“So I know the pain you’re going through. Let me bear the weight of it. Let me show you what it’s like to be loved.”

She chews on her lip. The thunder rolls. The rain doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. As I stay down on my knees before my god, I wait for her decision.

Smite me.

Or accept me.

Toss me into Hell.

Or pull me into Heaven.

My life is hers.

My dreams.

My fate.

She is my fate.

Swallowing, Summer looks away from me. Her breaths are still ragged. But her tears have stopped.

“I have severe depression,” she says. “No one can ever love me. Everyone grows to hate me.”

“Not me,” I promise. “Never me.”