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“Couldn’t or wouldn’t?” I whispered.

He looked at me directly and continued like I haven’t spoken. “I got a letter, Gretchen. They addressed it to ‘L Cape.’ It was handwritten.”

I frowned, confused.

Who is L Cape?

Why would that make him leave?

I bit my lip to stop myself interrupting.

“No one knew my address or my real name, aside from family. The letter told me that my identity was no longer a secret, and that it was only a matter of time until I joined the others.”

His voice was flat as he stared at the floor.

My heart was in my mouth. “The New York father?”

He nodded silently. “Me and Drake split. You were in danger—I couldn’t remain here, fucking around like we were just two teenagers in love,” he smiles sadly. “I didn’t know what he knew,ifhe knew about you, but I couldn’t risk it. I couldn’t riskyou.”

I took a huge slug of beer at that point, before I sank into a beanbag on the floor in front of him. “You were in danger and you left? I thought the worst. I thought you were dead…” I shook my head in confusion. “I don’t get it, you ran again, but you’ve come back. I don’t understand.”

He didn’t raise his eyes to look at me, but winced, as though he knows what he was going to say will shock me. “I went back to New York, Gretchen.”

Chapter Twenty-three

GRETCHEN

If I wasn’t sitting down, I would’ve collapsed.

“What?” I cried then, not sure what had happened, or how he was still alive in front of me.

“You’re in witness protection!” I hissed, stunned by his sheer stupidity.

He raised his beautiful green eyes to mine, and I sobbed harder.

“I need you to tell me what happened to you,” I whispered, as my hands trembled.

Cal shook his head slightly, his expression unreadable. He peeled the label from the beer bottle, and absentmindedly I remember reading that it was a sign of sexual frustration.

Why does that make me feel happier?

I jumped when he spoke gruffly.

“It was fuckinghard, Raven. But you’re safe now, that’s all that matters. I want to tell you everything, I just... can’t, okay? Not yet. Give me time, please.” He held his face in his hands and I crawled forward to where he was.

I peeled his hands away from his face and looked at him.

“It’s beenmonths,” he murmured, pain in his eyes. “I get that you may have moved on, and if you have, I swear I will never bother you again,” he cupped my face in his hands before he continued. “You deserve to be happy, with a decent human being who isn’t in trouble with less desirable fuckheads.”

I cut him off with my lips on his.

He pulled me onto his lap effortlessly, his fingers sliding up my back as I kissed him harder. I ran my nails down his chest, biting his neck as he lifted me up to throw me down onto the sofa. I gasped and looked up at him in awe as he pulled my jeans and panties down, tossing them aside.

He kneeled over me, unbuckling his belt without taking his eyes away from me once. I surprised him as I took control, pushing him down onto the sofa, straddling him. I lifted my hoodie off to sit on him naked. He pulled his jeans down, and I felt him against me, and I moaned softly. I leaned forward and kissed him slowly on his face, his lips, his throat.

I couldn’t get enough of him.

His hands skimmed my body greedily, his fingers tracing down my thigh until he slipped a finger easily inside of me. My body squirmed, my hips thrusting as I sank my teeth into my lip.