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The thought of him bathing me? Of washing my hair and lavishing me with sweet attention? Ugh, it was enough for me to forget the messy few weeks and trust. No one had ever done that for me. I’d never allowed anyone close enough to offer such a thing.
But Kas...he’d offered because he viewed himself as beneath me. He’d captured me and treated me like he’d been treated, proving that those traumatized and twisted had every capacity to repeat the vicious circle. So how was he...changing? How had he morphed from someone who commanded I kneel and suck him to a man desperately hoping I’d agree to let him wash my hair?
Oh, Kas, what the hell are you doing to me?
“Gemma, I...” He sighed. “I give you my vow; I won’t hurt you. I don’t have any way of proving that vow, and I understand if you don’t believe me, but...” He swallowed and added almost shyly. “I care for you, so please...let me try to show you.”
I hugged myself as my heart grew so big it crushed against my ribs. His ope
Could I ask?
Would he answer?
“On one condition,” I whispered.
He flinched but nodded. “What’s the condition?”
I paused, gathering up more courage from the stars twinkling in the dark. “That you talk to me.”
“Talk?” He frowned.
“That you tell me about...” I pushed toward him, settling with my back in front of him. “Your family. Why you’re alone. What they did to you. Why you never left.”
I felt him tense behind me, but I didn’t look back. This was his choice. He had to know how poignant this moment was. If he chose to give me those pieces of himself, then...we would never go back to what we’d been.
We’d be friends.
We’d be more.
There’s no going back, Kas.
If you speak to me, I won’t stand a chance against you.
Give me your past, and that’s it. You’ll have a champion in me forever. You’ll never be alone. You’ll be loved and—
“Okay,” he breathed, almost choking on the word. “I’ll try.”