been about it. “I don’t even know how it’s possible, but would you think it was crazy if I said that melody is familiar to me.” It had taken me a few moments to remember, because I’d never heard it with words before. “During my darkest moments in life—” I swallowed hard “—that song was in my head.”
Jacob wasn’t saying anything, just watching me intently, letting me get my thoughts out. “Do you think the bond fought to save me?” I asked, my voice breaking. “Because I’m certain that melody stopped me from killing myself on a night when the demons almost won.”
"Justice…" he breathed, my name filled with agony. His eyes, they were the brightest green I'd ever seen, except for right around the edge of the white, which had a glossy red tinge to it.
I'd never seen him like this. I'd never seen him react so strongly—it was breaking … shattering me, ripping me into a mess of emotions.
Because he cared.
"Is everything okay out here?"
We’d stood out the front of the royal estate for so long, someone had checked on us. The guard wore a neutral expression, but his hand was on his weapon. All the guards were equipped with a ruby-topped laser-stick, like the Earth version of a Taser, only a million times stronger. "The king and queen asked me to check in," he added when we just stared at him.
Jacob's chest started to vibrate under my hands, and I knew that this was too much. I'd pushed him too far with all my emotional dumping on him. Henry, the guard, was going to find himself facing off against a dragon if he didn’t leave, and no little ruby stick was going to help.
My hand burned where I touched Jacob. "Leave us be," I said, glaring at the guard. "Everything is fine, and you can tell my parents we'll be inside in a moment."
Henry was only a few years older than me and was a favorite of my mother’s. It was probably all the flirting—something Dad and I did not appreciate.
Whatever it was, he clearly felt a false sense of entitlement to ignore my wishes.
Unmoving, he examined me, only flinching when Jacob growled, a rumbly, menacing sound that was tinged with dark energy.
Spinning on one foot, Henry finally marched away.
"Are you okay?" I pressed, focusing on Jacob.
He didn't answer or let me go, and I could tell he was working his hardest not to lose his shit. I respected that about him.
Jacob was a good man.
"I really do trust you," I whispered, knowing it was the truth. "I've never said those words to a person before, but … you're so much more than I ever expected. You're stronger and kinder, and more emotional than the Jacob Compass I first met. You’re a good friend. I'm grateful to have met you … and I … I fucking trust you."
I was babbling words at this point, trying to fill the moment so that he would start talking again.
His eyes darkened as he stared at me, and before I could word-spew some more, his lips crashed into mine. It was a sudden, intense movement that I hadn't expected. He must have realized that, because even as he was wrapping his arms tighter, pulling me closer, he murmured: "Tell me to stop. Last chance."
Fuck. This guy was killing me. "No," I whispered, opening my mouth to properly kiss him back.
He let me have control for about ten seconds, before sliding his hands into my hair, fingers tightening in the strands near the base of my head to pull me even closer. His tongue dominated mine, destroying me.
A tear seeped out from under my closed eyelids as I drowned in that kiss. A kiss that I wished was my first and only. So many things had been stolen from me in life, but this kiss … it shouldn't have been.
"Justice?" Jacob asked, his face paler as he pulled away. "I'm sorry if—"
I cut him off with a hand over his mouth, my grip firm. "Don't you dare say you're fucking sorry for kissing me. I'm a grown woman who’s not afraid of my body or sex. I let those men take a lot from me, but I refused to give them anything else when I left their world. What they did and what I choose to do now are two different things, and I've never had an issue separating them in my head."