Page 25 of It Destroys Me
When I rose from the chair, she flinched slightly.
I tried not to smirk.
I came around the desk and faced her, having to drop my chin because she was even shorter than usual without shoes. I was in my sweatpants and nothing else, feeling warm now that spring was here.
She moved into me, her arms circling my waist as she pressed a kiss to the bottom of my pecs where her lips reached me. She rose on her tiptoes to kiss me at a higher spot, close to where my heart sat.
Her affection dispelled my foul mood, and my hand slid into her hair and pulled it from her face as my arm circled her waist. I pulled her into me as I brushed a kiss to her hairline, hit with the scent of her shampoo and perfume, smelling like a flower garden.
Her little body relaxed in my hold, like she’d been holding on to unseen tension.
I held her against me, letting her use me as a crutch against the invisible anchor that pulled her to the seabed. “Something on your mind, sweetheart?” I spoke the question I didn’t want to ask, afraid she would say the one name I didn’t want to hear. Bolton had hidden his tracks well. Was smart enough not to tell even his closest guys where he was. I’d tracked down a few and killed them when it was clear they didn’t know anything.
She rested against me for another moment, and then she pulled away. Her eyes were down for a second before she had the strength to look at me. “I should have picked you when you came into the gallery, and I’m so sorry I didn’t.” The remorse was in her eyes, along with the self-loathing, like this truly kept her up at night.
And I didn’t think about it at all. “We’re past this, sweetheart.”
“I know, but…”
“But what?”
“When I was with Scarlett last night, she told me Axel would stop at nothing until he had her. It reminded me of you.” Her eyes flicked down again. “That you’re my Axel, and I was too stupid to realize that at the time. I should have forgiven you.”
I watched her try to process all of this, beating herself up for the poor decision she’d made. I’d thought this was in the past, but it seemed to still be worrying her. “I’m the kind of man who holds grudges. For years. Even decades. But I hold nothing against you, sweetheart. Don’t hold anything against yourself.”
She looked up at me, the surprise in her green eyes.
“The situation was never black-and-white. Our feelings in the present change our memories of the past. Don’t forget the context of that moment. Don’t forget the things I did to hurt you.”
She continued to stare at me.
“Let it go, sweetheart.” My hand continued to cradle her face, keeping her look on mine as I stared at her beautiful face.
“Do you call all women sweetheart…or just me?”
My eyes flicked back and forth between hers, feeling the gates around my heart open just a little bit more. “I only say that to my woman—and you’re my woman.”
I walked down the hallway and met Octavio.
“He’s in there.” He nodded toward the back room. “But he’s not talking, like all the others.”
I nodded before I entered the room, finding Horace chained to the stone wall by metal cuffs. He was already beaten with blood pouring down his face from his eyes and mouth, cuts up his arms from the slices he took from the dagger.
I pulled up a chair in front of him, crossed one ankle on the opposite knee and lit up a cigar.
Horace sat against the wall, his body held up by the chains that suspended his arms. He looked dead tired, like he couldn’t take much more of this.
I sat in silence and enjoyed my cigar, knowing the unknown would simmer under his skin then turn into a boil.
He continued to watch me, taking a deep breath as he processed his aches. “I don’t know where he is. That’s the fucking truth.”
“I believe you.” I puffed the smoke out of my mouth. “But you know I’m gonna kill you anyway.” I sucked on the cigar again and let the smoke invade every crevice of my mouth and nostrils.
“Then what the fuck do you want from me?—”
“Someone knows where he is. And you’re going to give me a name.”
“You just said you’re going to kill me, so I don’t have much of an incentive to help you.”