Defiant Princess (Boys of Oak Park Prep #2) - Callie Rose Page 0,56

cheekbone, the line of my jaw, burning little paths of fire everywhere they touched.

“You’re so beautiful, Talia.”

The words were a pained whisper, and when my gaze finally jerked up to meet his, the look in his eyes made it hard to breathe.

I pulled my head back, escaping the soft, too-sweet touch. “Don’t.”

His eyelids flickered, but he dropped his hand. “I’m sorry.”

I swallowed, pulling a disinfectant wipe from the kit. “It’s okay. I just need to—”

“No.” The fingers that had brushed over my cheek now covered my hand, stopping my movement. “I’m sorry.”

It hit me all of a sudden what he meant, all of what he meant, and against my will, tears welled in my eyes. I drew back again, trying to fight down the rising tide of emotion. “Don’t.”

He shook his head, and when I glanced back at him, his hazel eyes burned with sorrow and determination.

“I have to, Talia. You don’t have to accept it, and you can hate me forever if you want, but I have to tell you. I’m so fucking sorry.”

Chapter 15

No.

This isn’t right.

My plan was vengeance.

My plan was to wreck the Princes, to burn their lives to the ground and walk away.

No part of my plan had involved Elijah looking at me like this—like guilt was eating him from the inside out. Like he’d never seen anything more precious or beautiful in his life.

I tugged my hand away, pulling it out from under his. His touch was too gentle, filled with the same emotion that churned behind his eyes, and I couldn’t take it. It hurt and soothed at the same time, making me itch to flee. To escape this confined space where the air seemed too thick to breathe.

“It doesn’t matter, Elijah. It—”

“Of course it matters, Tal. We hurt you.” He made a face, then grimaced in pain. “Fuck. You should’ve let Mason and me keep hitting each other. It’s the least we fucking deserve.”

A fresh trickle of blood fell from his nose, and I grabbed another tissue to dab at it, shaking my head. “Maybe I don’t like seeing people get punched in the face.”

“I dunno.” He chuckled softly. “That one you laid on Mason looked pretty solid.”

I hated the reminder of that night, and I knew Elijah could see it on my face, see my expression shutter.

When I tossed the bloodied tissue onto the coffee table with the rest of the first aid supplies, he caught my hand again, curling my fingers into a fist and wrapping his own around it.

“He deserved it. And more,” he murmured.

We both stared at our joined hands, suspended in the space between us, and every atom in my body felt the connection in that touch as his fingertips grazed over my skin.

Then Elijah lifted my fist to his mouth and pressed soft kisses to each of my knuckles.

“Why does it always have to be about who hits who?” I asked, and I wasn’t sure if I was asking him or the universe or myself. “Why does it always have to be about cruelty and revenge?”

His deep hazel eyes flicked up to gaze into mine, his lips still brushing over my knuckles.

“I don’t know. But we hurt you. We deserve to be hurt. It’s just the way the world works, I guess.”

“Why doesn’t anything ever feel good? Why is it always about pain?”

I couldn’t stop watching the press of his full lips as he worshipped my skin, dropping small kisses on the ridges of my knuckles. His own hand was bruised and red, smeared with a small streak of blood from the pain he had inflicted.

“Does this hurt?” he asked softly, and I knew he was talking about more than just the physical contact.

The tears that had been building in my eyes spilled over, and I nodded almost imperceptibly, gaze still locked on him. It did hurt to be touched by him so tenderly, but in a different, sweeter way than the other hurts I’d experienced recently.

It… overwhelmed.

“I’m sorry, Talia.” His expression tightened with guilt again, and he started to release my hand, but for some reason I couldn’t quite understand, I wrapped my fingers around his, preventing him from letting go. His grip tightened on mine a little, and he glanced up at me cautiously. “Can I try to make it not hurt?”

I dipped my chin in another tiny nod, not even bothering to wipe away the tears that fell in twin tracks down my cheeks. I rarely cried, but it felt like a valve in