else being this beautiful. “I’m sorry this is happening to you, Prinie. I wish I was a better man. I wish I could help you mor—”
“You being here, helps more than you know.” Prinie places her hand on my wet jeans. A weak smile lighting her face. “You must be freezing. You told me off for being wet, now here you are an hour later still in your wet clothes. You could have gone and gotten changed, Wraith.” She stands rushing into the bathroom.
“I wanted to be here when you came back out.”
She fusses about in the bathroom, then rushes back with a dry towel. “If I’d known you were still here, I would have taken a lot less time.” Prinie hands me the towel which I bring to my hair and scruff it, though it’s almost dry. It’s my clothes that are soaked through.
“You needed it.”
She hesitates, then sits next to me. “You… you heard me?”
I nod, my face scrunching unintentionally from my own inner pain.
She turns away, seemingly ashamed, but I reach out, my fingers on her chin forcing her to look back at me. “Don’t ever be embarrassed around me. I know you better than most people around here. You don’t ever have to hide around me.”
She jerks her face away from my hands with a scoff. “You’re never around me, not lately, anyway.”
Ouch.
“I can’t please you and Zero, Prinie.”
“So, you choose him over me?”
“It’s not that simple. He’s not only my best friend, he’s your brother, and my president. It’s complicated.”
“You just don’t have the balls to stand up to him.” She turns away from me with a huff.
My nostrils flare. I grip her arm, forcing her to me. “Prinie, you know it’s not just that. Zero has a reason not to want us together, and you’ve seen it firsthand. What I can do to you. I can’t risk doing it again. It’s how I am. It’s what makes me tick. It’s how I… get off.”
She stands abruptly, running her fingers through her hair. “You have self-control, more than you know, you’re just too chicken-shit to try.”
“Too chicken-shit? Prinie, I want to wrap my fingers around your throat. The need crawls under my skin. I think about it so often it haunts my dreams. I’m so scared of fucking hurting you. It. Terrifies. Me.”
Prinie turns back to face me, throwing her hands up in frustration. “Then do it, Wraith. Fucking do it! Wrap your hands around my neck and squeeze the life out of me because I don’t want to be here, anyway. I may as well die at the hands of someone I care about.”
I stand, grab her shoulders, and shake her. “Shut the hell up. How fucking dare you say shit like that! I can’t fathom what kind of hell your head is in right now, but not even for a second believe that you don’t have a place on this earth, do you hear me! You want to be dead? Well, I’m not gonna do it for you. Not. Fucking. Ever. Nor, will I let that happen to you, not on my watch. So, you put that shit right out of your mind.”
Tears well in her eyes again, and she blinks a few times. Her body slumps in my arms, so I pull her to me, embracing her, holding on, hoping she knows I care. Prinie wraps her arms around me so fucking tight, then she snuggles her face into my chest. “I just don’t know what the hell I’m doing anymore, Wraith.”
Bringing my hand up, I smooth over the back of her head to comfort her. I need this moment with her. “I know everything feels bleak right now, but even though I can’t be with you, I’ll always be watching out for you. And I will always be here for you if you need me.”
Prinie’s head moves up, her eyes locking onto mine. We’re so close her minty toothpaste refreshes my senses as her breathing quickens. “Zero’s in trouble, isn’t he?”
Shit.
I can’t lie to her.
Not now.
Pulling her over to the bed, I sit us down. This isn’t something we can discuss standing. I’m worried in her state she could collapse, but at the same time, with her mood the way it is, I’m going to have to limit what I tell her. I grip her hand in mine, tightly threading our fingers together. “When he came out to see us, it was clear he was having a tough time in there.”
“What