Page 93 of Madness & Mercy

His eyes are glassy and guarded. Still defiant, but trembling at the edges.

I lean in, my mouth near his ear, breath just brushing his skin.

“He broke you. But I don’t want to break you,piccolino.”

A beat.

“I want to watch you claw your way back. I want to see who you really are when you stop letting ghosts pull your strings.”

He exhales, shaky and uneven, and I feel his pulse hammering against my fingers.

He doesn’t speak.

But he doesn’t pull away.

And that silence is more honest than anything he’s said all night.

CHAPTER 14 – WRECKED

JULIAN

God fucking damn it.

Why the hell did I say that?

Why the hell did I let himseethat?

Stop looking at me like that, you smug, manipulative bastard.

Every time his eyes land on me, my body betrays me. My muscles tense, my breath catches, my blood roars in places it shouldn’t. And heknowsit. He drinks it in like wine.

This doesn’t happen to me.

I’mthe one who’s supposed to be in control. I use emotions like weapons, wear masks so well they’ve started to feel like skin. I make peoplefeelthings so I don’t have to.

But with him, it all comes crashing down.

My brain short-circuits the second he gets too close, and suddenly all the rules I’ve lived by stop applying. My instincts don’t know whether to run or beg. And I fuckinghatehim for it.

I hate howweakI feel around him. Raw and exposed like he’s got a mirror shoved in my face and he’s daring me to look back.

It’s pathetic.

And why thefuckis it so hot in here?

It feels like the air’s been turned up to a hundred goddamn degrees. My skin’s burning, every nerve is standing on edge, and I swear, he does it on purpose. Helikeswatching me fall apart.

I clench my fists and drag in a breath, trying to get myself back under control.

But even as I do, all I can hear is his voice in my head, whispering truths I never gave him permission to find.

And I think deep down, some fucked up part of mewantsto be seen by him. Wants him to strip everything down until there’s nothing left but the ugly truth, even if it ruins me.

“Are you feeling alright?”

His voice cuts through the haze, sinking straight to the pit of my stomach.

I force myself to nod, even though my skin is burning under the collar of this goddamn suit.