Page 84 of Severed Heart (The Ravenhood Legacy #2)

“It’s so ironic,” she utters. “You know I hated men noticing me for so long. Hated being their idea of beautiful and today paid lots of money to resemble a fraction of that woman.” Her eyes bulge.

“It was so expensive, but Layla is my new friend, and I’m excited we are going to have ‘ lady dates.’ I learned so much today.

It’s so strange, but I have poison in my face!

” She smiles, pointing to her cheeks. “And”—she extends her foot—“do you like my toes?”

Pulling the phone from my jeans as my heart thrashes toward the woman rattling feet away—looking like the dream I once worshipped with my eyes, lips, and cock—I lift my old Sidekick, and she stares at it like it’s nothing to be concerned about.

“You will use your old phone again?” She frowns. “Okay, I will maybe need the number.”

“Not exactly, Delphine.” I take a menacing step forward as she searches my expression, seeming confused by the hostility radiating from me. “No, today , I finally got your missed calls and messages . Eight fucking years later.”

She stares back at me, her eyes dropping. “Oh.”

“ Oh , she says.” I shake my head in disbelief. “ Oh ? That’s all you have to say.”

She blows out a loaded breath as long seconds tick by, the night breeze lifting the kitchen curtains as she finally speaks. “What do you want me to say, Soldier?”

“I will wait,” I grit out. “Wait, how? ”

She remains mute as she visibly starts to shake.

“Look at me, goddamn you,” I snap. When she does, she brings watering eyes to mine. “Wait, how, Delphine? Answer me!”

“How you asked me to.”

“How I asked you to ,” I deliver with so much venom that she flinches.

“How I asked you to ? You mean as the woman I wanted to build a life with and around? The woman I wanted to love and trust with every part of me? Surrender my heart to? Make love to and fuck every chance I got? Be with in every way a man can be with a woman for the rest of my fucking life? In that way?”

“Yes,” she answers, her silver eyes holding mine as they shed silent tears. “But I was not sure of that, Tyler, not as much then as I am now. You know it was very complicated.”

“Complicated,” I scoff. “Well, you sure didn’t fucking help uncomplicate that once , did you? Not. Fucking. Once!”

“Soldier—”

“Did it ever once fucking occur to you that I switched phones or that maybe I was so hurt by what happened that I didn’t bother to retrieve my phone before I left for the Marines?”

“I—but you have your phone,” she points out.

“Because my mother put it in a box with other things she thought I might want to keep. Because my mother knew our text exchanges were on this phone because I showed them to her when we were trying to diagnose you.”

“You showed her my messages?”

“I think you’re missing the point, Delphine!”

“I’m not, Soldier. Do you want some iced tea?” she asks, voice shaking.

“Delphine!”

Another tear slips down her cheek.

“All this time, all this fucking time.” I glare at her. “You wanted it too.”

“I know this is serious, Soldier, but I had a really good day. I don’t want it to turn into a bad day.”

“Do you know how many fucking bad days I had because I didn’t get these goddamned messages? Eight fucking years of bad days, Delphine. Eight fucking years!”

She nods. “I am sorry. All this time, I thought you purposely ignored them.”

“Well, that’s just fucking . . .” I shake my head. “Eight years, eight fucking years, and you didn’t even try to talk to me!”

“But I did, Soldier. I called, and I messaged you. You see that. I took your silence as your decision. You did not call. Did not come back.”

“Yeah, well, I was trying to be done with you, and do you know why?”

“You didn’t see the calls or messages.” Her voice cracks as the pain becomes palpable between us. Years of loss—of time passed. Years we could have had together if she’d once been fucking brave enough to tell me she was—

“You waited for me?” I rasp out, anger overruling my need to console her, instead wanting to shake her, to fucking eviscerate her. “All this time?”

She bites her lip, eyes flowing.

“Answer me,” I snap, and she jumps again. The sight of it has my heart skyrocketing.

“Oui.”

“Oui,” I repeat, disbelieving of her calm—fucking hating it. Hating the sight of her altogether. “I can’t,” I say, shaking my head. “I can’t fucking believe you let so much time pass. Even now , you haven’t said shit!”

“You say you don’t have those feelings for me anymore when you came to my house.”

“Yeah, well, guess what, General,” I drawl sarcastically. “ Love lied to you that fucking day and has been lying every day since he came back so he could get you back and keep you in his life again!”

I rake her with my stare, unable to help myself as I eat up the sight of her. She’s still too thin, but she looks fucking gorgeous, very much resembling the woman I worshipped when we were together.

Her eyes light with hope at my admission as I bite back words I know will hurt her.

Because I know she wants this, and I’ve been batting every longing look away, knowing what she’s capable of doing to me.

Every part of me wants to obliterate that hope for her, wants so fucking badly to.

Tension fills the air as she swallows, and the truth doesn’t set me free—at all.

If anything, it feels like it’s strangling me.

“That morning,” I say, voice laced with fury even as I whisper, “you said ‘ love is lying to you right now. ’ You were flat out fucking telling me you were lying.”

She bites her lip and nods. “Oui. But please, Soldier, please understand all of my reasons for it. I knew I was not good for you, Tyler. It was part lie but so much truth . I was twelve years older and the laughingstock of my family—an alcoholic with many emotional problems. I did not want to corrupt your future. I didn’t want to hold you back. ”

“Well, guess what, Delphine,” I deliver with clear lividity, “we’re together again, messages received or none , so what does that fucking tell you?”

“Love never lied to me,” she whispers, pressing a tear away.

“I knew that, Tyler. In my heart.” She palms her chest. “I knew I was the liar that day.” Her eyes plead with mine for understanding that I’m incapable of right now due to the pain thrumming through me.

“But we are together now, in this dream you created. You took a path meant for you to become a soldier, and I had to take my own to get here, in this place, mentally.” She points to her temple.

“And I am here now, and I want to share this dream with you.” She takes a step forward.

“I want so much to be with you in every way,” she whispers, love and hope fueling her expression.

“Yeah, well, if you’re this much of a fucking coward , why should I ever trust you with my fucking heart ever again?

!” I snap before turning and smashing the phone against the kitchen wall.

Her sobs follow me as I stalk out of the house, ignoring her desperate call of my name as I enter the cab of my truck.

I turn the ignition over and look up to see her sobbing on the porch.

She screams my name as I kick rocks up and race away, my heart cracking with the truth I’ve been suspecting since I came back.

That she gave up the day I lost that battle and didn’t fucking cross the street.

But even so, she’s been waiting for me this whole fucking time.

* * *

The patter of little feet sounds on the creaking hardwoods as I stare up at the ceiling of my room, my chest still pumping after endless hours of driving aimless miles.

The fucking heart in my chest refusing any more distance as I drove every single one.

Finally, turning around so it would stop battering me, continually ramming me in demand to get back to its owner.

Glutton for more punishment for being in love with the most infuriating woman in existence since it made its fucking decision.

In a blink, she stands at the edge of my bed, but I don’t look at her.

I can’t. If she’s coming to me, then I need her to have the strength to continue to be the one to do it.

And she does, tentatively brushing her fingers along my arm before straddling me and lowering herself to cover me.

Her weight settles into me, a perfect fit, her naked breasts brushing my skin as she lays flush against me, resting her head beneath my chin.

I can feel the heat from her core on my stomach through her thin silk panties as desire threatens to blind me.

Softly, she whispers my name, and the curl of her tongue around it has my eyes fluttering closed.

Her silky hair glides along my bicep as she presses a kiss to my chest, where my heart lies, before gently stroking my pec, tracing my tattoo.

Her apology is everywhere in how she’s plastering herself against me in a silent plea.

Inhaling her clean scent, I fist my hands at my sides to keep from touching her as I sink into the surreal feel of her—utterly bare to me in every way.

Tamping down the raging lust now thrumming through me, I opt to speak, hearing the need in my voice as I do.

“Do you want to know why I really came back to you that day?” I ask, and she nods her head gently into my chest as she begins to trace the Roman numerals of my tattoo.