Page 135 of Reverie

She takes a big step toward me until she’s pressed to my chest.

“Here’s how this is gonna go, big guy.” She stands on her tiptoes. “You’re going to get whatever bullshit narrative that’s spinning in your brain out. You’re going to accept that I’m not going anywhere and that there’s strength in numbers. But beyond that, you’re going to accept that you and I? We stick together. We’re a team. So where you go, I go. Got it?”

Our breaths mingle as we stand deep in each other’s spaces, and the fact that it’s been weeks since I was last inside her hits me right in the dick.

Her plush tits press against my chest, their lushness even more pronounced with her pregnancy.

“Wearea team, baby,” I swear, running my hand up her arm. The gunshot wound is pretty much healed, and the feeling of her flesh beneath my palm brings everything into sharp focus.

The past few weeks of staying away from her have been the lowest parts of Hell. I need her. I need her so badly.

But I need her safe more.

“You need to talk to me, then,” she whispers. Her eyes turn soft, pleading. There’s always been so much unspoken between us. The secrets and the things we don’t speak about have been silent ghosts in our relationship.

Except, Winter has always laid it all out for me. She’s shared her whole heart, her whole past, no matter how painful. But I’ve kept the sharp, fragmented parts of mine hidden from her and from everyone.

“Why do you want to hurt me, Hunter?”

Her words are simple, but they cause a jolt of shock to sizzle at the base of my skull.

“What?” I rasp.

“Why do you want to hurt me?”

My hands start to shake. “About the shower, I’m so sorry?—”

“I’m not talking about the goddamned shower, Hunter,” she snaps. “You know, you didn’t even ask me how I felt about what happened. You’ve already decided for me that I hated it, that you’re a terrible human, thatthatis what has broken us.”

She puts her hand on my cheek.

“I’m talking about being hurt here.” She puts her other hand over her chest. “I’m talking about my heart. I know you love me. Iknowit. But you are hurting me, Hunter. You’vebeenhurting me.”

I step back until my legs hit the bed. Then I sit.

I… What the fuck am I doing?

“Winter…” I run a hand down my face before reversing course and plunging my hands through my hair. I pull at the roots.

I’m barely hanging on here.

What do I do?

We look at each other and I can’t help but feel like she’s thinking what I’m thinking—that there’s so much unsaid, unresolved between us.

And there isn’t always time to fix things.

“Sunbeam. Winter, I am so fucking sorry that I’ve put you in this situation. You can’t imagine how sorry I am. And…” I move my gaze to the ceiling. “And I’m not sorry for believing that your safety is my top priority. That our family’s safety is a top priority.”

“Hunter, there is no way that I’m going to go through this terror without you. I’m not giving birth to our baby alone. I’m not going to sit back while people try to hurt you. You think you protect me? Well, I protect you too. You’re not doing this without me, and I’m not doing this without you.”

But you might not have a choice, Sunbeam.

Winter grabs my face in both her palms.

“Hunter, one day you’re going to have to let me all the way in…or you will lose me.”

I let out a shuddering breath.