“Get the fuck out of here,” he clipped out somewhat forbiddingly.

“No.” I continued to storm down the hall towards him.

“I’ll drag you by your hair back to his room if that’s what it will take to get you to see reason.” The stern look on his face showed he meant every word, but I wasn’t going to leave without doing what I came there to do.

“Threaten me all you want. I’ve had the worst done to me and I’m still standing here. So give it your best shot.”

At the reminder of what I’d endured, his face gentled infinitesimally. I used that minor change to push my advantage.

“Please, Ghost. I have to see for myself.”

“You don’t want to see it, girl,” he warned me in a dire tone.

“I know I don’t want to, but I have to. I need this. Please,” I begged.

“Fuck,” he mumbled under his breath. “I knew you were going to be the death of me the second I saw you standing on the steps all give me a job.” He quoted me in a high-pitched voice. “I’m telling you right now if he kills me, I’m taking you down with me.”

“Understood.” I nodded my head and waited anxiously while he turned and opened the door.

The sound of crunching bone met our ears as we entered the room. Xavier’s back was to us as he faced a naked Spencer, who was tied to a metal chair in the center of the otherwise empty room.

“Where is he?” Xavier hollered, his voice echoing off the walls.

Spencer spit blood out of his mouth and smiled creepily at Xavier thanks to his now missing teeth. “I’ll never fucking tell you.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, his head snapped back with the force of Xavier’s fist hitting his face. It was then I realized that his nose was broken. Blood trickled down his face from multiple orifices. His arm was bent unnaturally behind the chair and a bone stuck out of his leg. None of that affected me quite the way the burn marks on his penis did, however.

It was the sound of me gagging that made Xavier aware of my presence beside Ghost.

“What the fuck is she doing here?” His voice was a lethal whip around the room as he eyed Ghost with derision.

“He was working with Cherry,” I blurted out before Ghost could answer him.

Xavier’s face hardened further and Ghost cursed under his breath.

“Find that bitch. I want her here… now!”

Not leaving his place next to me, Ghost pulled a phone from his pocket and sent a text to someone, and I knew Cherry would be there soon. I spared one small moment to feel sorry for her for having to endure Xavier’s wrath. Then I remembered she deserved whatever karma sent her way.

“Get out of here, Aurora,” Xavier’s voice rumbled as he barked at me.

“No. I deserve to be here.”

“This is no place for you,” he argued.

“That’s where you’re wrong. This pathetic excuse for a man thought he could bring me low. I want him to see I’m still standing with my head held high.” I turned my attention to Spencer before speaking again.

“You might have deserved my sympathy once upon a time, but right now you get nothing from me. You’re a sorry excuse for a human being and I hope Xavier tortures you until you can’t stand it any longer. Until you’re begging for him to stop. You disgust me.” I spat at him, knowing it wouldn’t quite reach him but that I’d get my point across just the same.

“She had a tight cunt,” Spencer stupidly taunted Xavier.

“You might want to quit while you’re ahead,” I warned him.

“Such a tight cunt. You always did have good taste, Xavier,” he continued his needling.

Xavier’s response was to pull a gun from the waist of his pants. He set the muzzle against Spencer’s temple and I puked in my mouth at the realization of what was coming next.

“You want to take that back?” Xavier asked even though everyone in that room knew there was no going back.

“She may have had a tight cunt, but that’s all she is… pussy.”

“Wrong fucking answer.” He jerked his head towards the door and addressed Ghost. “Get her out of here.”

The sound of his gun cocking seemed way too loud in the room. Ghost grabbed my bicep and pulled me toward the door. I didn’t even have it in me to fight him. I knew what was about to happen, and even though I didn’t want Xavier to have even more blood on his hands, I wanted justice for what had happened to me.

As soon as the door clicked shut behind us, the blast of the gun went off. I jumped in Ghost’s hold and let out a little scream. That was when he dragged me back to Xavier’s room and locked me inside.

Xavier eventually found me sitting on his bed, exactly where he had told me to be. The annoyed and pissed off look on his face was replaced with shock when I stood up abruptly and launched myself at him.

“I love you,” I whispered against his mouth before pressing a kiss to it.

His arms snaked around me and his mouth opened beneath mine. The moment my tongue touched the tip of his, he let out a growl so edged with passion that I felt it down to my toes.

Now that I was in his arms and Spencer was gone, I knew everything was going to be fine.

All I needed in this life was him and Sophie. The rest was all trivial.

“Wait.” He pulled away from me and put some space between us. Just like the first time he’d done this to me, my brain screamed in frustration.

I reached for him, but he took another step back.

“This is over.”

“What?” I breathed.

“I’m done with this. With you.” My heart immediately fractured into a million pieces at his pronouncement.

“Why?” The word cracked under the weight of my emotion.

“You’re in danger,” he bit out.

“Yeah, I think I got that,” I snapped angrily, glad that it was overriding the hurt that his careless words had inflicted.

“I won’t be able to live with myself if something happens to you again. If something happens to Sophie.” He choked on the words and in the back of my mind it registered that he was afraid for us. And instead of dealing with it, he was trying to push us away.

That was not going to happen. Not after the shit I’d just gone through. Not after I’d finally accepted who and what he was. No way. Nuh-uh.

There are some things in life worth fighting for, and I knew I had a fight on my hands to prove to him just how worthy I thought him to be. I knew deep down in my core that Xavier O’Brien was the cocoon that sheltered and nurtured the butterfly I’d ultimately become. His love had allowed me to take flight. Now it was my turn to return the favor.

I was in this for the long haul and he was just going to have to accept that.

“So keep us safe,” I whispered.

“You don’t get it.” He sat on the edge of the bed and thrust his hands through his hair in agitation.

“No, you don’t get it.” I stood in between his legs. With one hand on his shoulder, my other played with the hair at his collar. His body started to relax from its previous rigid posture, so I went in for the kill. “Would you willingly let someone hurt us?”

“Not as long as there was a breath left in my body.” His hands, which had settled on my waist, reflexively squeezed at the thought. The fact that he didn’t consider himself a knight in shining armor—a natural born protector—perplexed me. How could he not see it?

“Then keep us safe. Sophie and me, we’re yours. And we aren’t going anywhere.”

His nostrils flared and his fingers dug into my skin almost painfully, but I said not a word. I watched in silence as he worked through whatever demon had hold of him.

“My sister died because of me.” His words were so low I barely heard them.

“What?”

His grip tightened even further and I had to bite my lip to keep from crying out.

“I was an enforcer for a drug dealer and pimp. I was good. The best. I made enemies fast, but I didn’t give a shit because I was untouchable. I pushed their buttons. Goaded them. Dared them to come after me.”