to them. So, I have a good idea what you’re going to do to me.”
My heartbeat sped up as I waited for him to respond. The sweat on my hands turned to ice. The tightening in my chest made it even harder to breathe.
“I’m not going to kill you.”
The vibration of his words passed through me, but it didn’t bring any relief. There were other consequences besides death…things that would hurt just as much because I’d be alive to feel them.
“But?”
“I fucking hate that you didn’t tell me.”
His hands went to my waist, and he held me tighter than he ever had. His touch would leave a bruise. I didn’t care.
“I hate that you lied and kept it a secret. I don’t ever give second chances, Kyle.”
My body began to shake as I prepared myself for how this was going to end.
“But I understand why you did it. I can’t agree with it, but I get it. And, now, I’d be the liar if I said I didn’t feel something for you.”
“You…do?”
More coldness passed through his eyes. More anger. But then something changed. Something that caught me off guard.
“I do,” he said.
I never expected this. I never expected him to understand any of it. I certainly never expected for him to have feelings for me after I came clean.
“Garin, I don’t even know what to say—”
Suddenly, I found myself in the air.
Thirty-Six
Garin
Present Day
I lifted Kyle and pulled her onto my lap, holding her face still while she settled.
This fucking girl.
She had finally told me the truth, and all it had taken was a little bit of pushing. I didn’t have to hurt her. I didn’t even have to beg.
But her confession came after years of lies—lies right after Paulie’s murder, lies when I’d cornered her in the alley, lies when I’d asked her in the bar, lies up until this very moment.
It had taken everything that had gone down since Billy’s funeral—a hospital stay, a plane ride, dinner, a walk, and a fuck on the beach—but the truth had finally come.
I’d never planned on giving her a second chance. Hell, I’d never intended for her to live this long. But the way she had looked at me, how she silently pleaded for me to touch her, how she just wanted me to wrap her up and protect her—it got to me. It burrowed right under that cold, bitter, angriness that I had felt toward her for so long.
So, I’d made myself a deal. If she had the balls to lie to my face again, I’d kill her. But if she told me the truth, I’d spare her life.
I hadn’t planned on forgiving her.
I sure as fuck hadn’t planned on falling in love with her.
But both had happened.
Shit, the second I saw her all cut up and bloody, the feelings I’d had came straight back.
The situation and what we had gone through wasn’t traditional. The deal Mario had helped me broker wasn’t either. Kyle should have been dead right now.
She was the first to ever survive.
The first to see the other side of a plan like the one Mario and I had set up.
Saving her was against what everyone wanted. Mario gave me a fucking earful about it. I didn’t care what anyone thought, I didn’t care about the risks, and I didn’t care how much it was going to cost me. I owed big for this one, and I paid up.
The minute I saw all of Kyle’s guilt, I knew it was worth it. And when I gave her my cock down at that beach and felt her unravel in pleasure, I definitely knew I’d made the right decision.
All those wasted years because of Anthony, that sick motherfucker. The drugs had gotten to him. The money had gotten to him. And the greed had gotten to him. I’d seen it happen to plenty of guys in the past. No one had fallen as hard as Anthony Lang. And no one had taken out my friends like he had.
I could have made the same deal for him that I had originally made for Kyle, but that wouldn’t have been as satisfying. Every time I visited Atlantic City and walked past the boardwalk, I wanted to know his bones had been ground into powder and sprinkled over the sand.
And that was going to happen soon enough.
I continued to hold Kyle’s face and stared into her eyes. I could tell she didn’t know. If she had, she wouldn’t have been looking at me