Page 125 of See You Maybe

That piece of shit broke her tea cups.

Declan forced a smile and lifted his chin at the storm outside. “Do you have whiskey? This feels more like a whiskey night.”

The relief in her eyes that he wasn’t going to press the issue had the vise back around his chest. Declan pocketed the shard of porcelain, noticing the smear of his blood on it, and turned to run his hand under the water. There would be a lot more when he was done.

“It isn’t night,” Olivia pointed out. “It’s barely late afternoon.”

Declan shrugged, and she quietly laughed, walking past him to open a cabinet. He closed his eyes as her delicate rose scent swirled around him.

He hadn’t quite figured out how he was going to make it all work, but he would never leave her again. Declan planned on waking up with her smell on his skin and the taste of her on his tongue for the rest of eternity.

“Jameson?” He inhaled the woody aroma of the glass she handed him.

Olivia’s eyes twinkled as she clinked her glass against his. “A cocky Irishman once told me it’s the only whiskey a true Dubliner would drink.”

“Sounds like a wise man.”

“Hmm.” Olivia took a small sip, staring at him over the rim. “Not so much. He’s made a lot of really stupid choices.”

Declan set his glass down and settled his hands lightly on her hips, not sure what other bruises she might be hiding.

“He is a wise man, because he knows he is going to do whatever it takes to make up for all the hurt he’s caused.” Declan leaned forward and kissed the uninjured corner of her mouth, encouraged when she didn’t pull back.

“It may not be as easy as you think.” She arched a challenging brow at him.

“I’m sure it won’t, Petal, but it sure as hell will be worth it.”

Declan brooded in the darkness, while Olivia snored quietly, cocooned in the thick blanket in front of the fire. He had suspected the truth weeks ago, at the meeting where he took over, but he had done nothing about it. He’d assumed that since they were divorced her immediate threat was gone… that Kyle’s punishment could wait while he dealt with everything else.

Images of Olivia’s bruised face and the fingerprints on her throat flashed over and over in his mind. The bridge of his nose stung, and he squeezed his eyes shut. He’d let her down.

Leaving one hand resting over her as she slept peacefully, her head on his thigh, Declan pressed the fingertips of his other to his brow. Hard. His breathing fractured as he imagined the scene the night before. Declan tipped his head back, pain ripping through his chest. He had been so worried about keeping her safe from his world he hadn’t looked hard enough at hers.

Rage bubbled inside him and Declan tried to concentrate on the silky feel of her hair as he softly stroked her head. A futile attempt to calm himself and find reassurance that she was safe. Here. With him.

The light from the fire was too low for him to make out her injuries, but Declan knew they were there. Branded into his brain forever.

I could have lost her.

His petty revenge on Kyle had made things worse for Olivia. He should have expected that Kyle would turn his wrath on her. Declan had failed her like everyone else in her life.

Never again.

“I’m sorry, Petal,” he whispered, bending to kiss her hair, before carefully slipping out from under her head. Declan wasn’t sure why Olivia had accepted him back into her life so easily, but he certainly wasn’t going to argue.

Earlier, they’d taken their whiskeys to her sofa, and Declan laid a fire, covering her with the blanket as she snuggled against his side. He’d held her in silence, watching the fire and listening to the storm rage outside. With his arm around her shoulders, his body felt truly at peace for the first time in twelve years.

“I missed you.” The words were barely audible over the storm and the crackling of the fire.

“I missed you too.” Declan pressed his lips to her temple and inhaled. “I’m never letting you go. That ‘maybe’ we talked about is now ‘absolutely.’”

Declan tensed, waiting for her response. He wanted to believe that if Olivia said she didn’t feel the same way anymore, that she couldn’t forgive him, he was noble enough to let her go. To let her find the life she deserved with a man who wouldn’t always have a target of one type or another on his back.

But Declan wasn’t. He was a selfish monster.

Olivia set her glass on the table and snuggled into the space between his shoulder and chest. “Hmm. Your ‘absolutely’ sounds a lot like ‘about damn time’ to me.”

Declan huffed a laugh before pressing his cheek to her hair. He didn’t move for over an hour, content to hold her in his arms while she slept.