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“You think he’ll trust you for one second? He’ll chain you up and make certain you never escape him again. Then if you’re lucky, he’ll only torture you. Unlucky, he’ll find someone you care about and torture them right in front of you. And then . . . then you’ll willingly drink his blood and become his slave.”

“But if we can—”

“What would you do if he had Xamien hanging from his fingernails being tortured day after day? Tell me, Max. Will you break then? Or will you watch him suffer for weeks? Hear his screams, hoping someone will come in time to save you both.” His jaw pulsated and his voice was laced with anger. I realized, this wasn’t about me—this was about him.

“Jasper—”

“But they’ll come too late and she’ll be dead.”

My breath hitched. He said she. What had happened to him? Who was she?

“Fuck!” Suddenly, he pushed me away from him and strode into the bathroom and slammed the door. “You don’t belong to him,” he shouted. “And he won’t get to you.”

I heard the tap turn on and then a loud bang. There was no doubt something in Jasper’s past was exactly as he said. Coldness seeped into me as I imagined what could have happened. Had he made a choice like that? Was that why he was alone? Why he kept his distance from everyone? What made him this way?

He opened the door again half an hour later. Water dripped off his chin and the strands of his hair. And his face—darkness. Ravaged pain had crept into the depths of his eyes and sat there unhidden beneath the cocky confidence he exuded. A beast lingered and it looked ready to attack.

While curled up in the chair, he went to walk by me. I don’t know why I did it except it was instinctive. I reached out and placed my hand on his forearm. There was a stark contrast to my white skin against the black vivid ink of his tattoos. We contrasted in a lot of ways . . . except for what we both hid from others and ourselves.

“I’m sorry. For whatever happened to you . . . and her.”

He jerked, but not away from me, just muscles flexing beneath my palm.

Our eyes met and I saw the moment his raw pain shifted and became hidden beneath a veil of cocky confidence. I slid my hand down his arm until my fingers linked with his.

He glanced down at our interlocked hands. “Unless you want to fuck right now, let me go.”

I knew he was acting out, just like I did by being cold and silent. It was my safety net to stay closed off. Jasper was doing the same thing.

But I was tired of my safety net and I wanted it to break.

I slipped my hand from his, stood, then grabbed the bottom of my shirt and yanked it up over my head.