CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

BELLA

I gaze at him with a questioning expression as he pulls my panties back up, and he chuckles in response.

“I’m a gentleman, living dead girl.”

Rolling my eyes at him, I say, “I think that’s up for debate.”

He hoists me over his shoulder and carries me inside the house.

“I can walk, you know.”

Speaking flatly, he says, “I have security, and I don’t want to risk them seeing your exposed body.”

I consider telling him that, had he not shredded my dress, he wouldn’t have to worry about it, but I let it go, because I already have things to tell him that might change everything between us. The moment I learned he was still alive, I knew things wouldn’t be what he thinks they are.

He climbs the stairs and takes me to the bedroom, and sets me down, and all the air escapes from my lungs. I stare at the spot where I left him, dying .

“Baby, what is it?”

I shake my head. “Nothing.”

Dragging his fingers down my cheek, he speaks low, and I can hear the anguish.

“You’re staring at the spot I sat in, with a knife in my chest, and you have tears rolling down your cheeks. Don’t tell me it’s nothing when it’s clearly something.”

He cradles my chin and lifts my gaze to his, and I touch my face that I didn’t even know was wet. I was so lost in what happened here before, I didn’t even realize I was crying.

“You should kill me, Nico. Isn’t that what your family does when someone hurts them? Or tries to kill them? ”

He chuckles softly.

“Yeah, baby, it is, but there’s a couple of problems with that. One, I can’t fucking live without you. And two, you weren’t trying to kill me. Instead, you were trying to destroy my entire world. For that you can be sorry, but everything that happened after was not your responsibility.”

Walking over to the dresser, he grabs a t-shirt and hands it to me.

“We’ll get your clothes tomorrow, but this will have to do for now.”

I shimmy out of the dress that’s barely hanging on my body, and pull the shirt over my head.

“Thank you.”

He does his pants back up and plops down on the bed, and opens his arms with a serious expression.

“Come here, baby. Let me give you what you need.”

More tears fall, because somehow he does know I need him to hold me. I need a few more minutes in his arms, before I shatter the world we’re so content in. I kick my shoes off, climb into his embrace, and he holds me tight against his chest. Laying my head against his beating chest, the guilt nearly consumes me. I know I probably should simply be happy he’s alive, and I am, but I can’t get over how close he came to death because of my choices.

“What made you decide to kill?”

I sigh audibly.

“The first attacked me. After following me from a bar to the graveyard, he told me to either suck his dick, or he was going to kill me. When I killed him, I heard your voice. My mind gave me the gift of you, but only when I took lives. I could hear you, smell you, feel you, and sometimes even see you and touch you. It was the only way I could have you.”

Anybody else would judge me, and call me a crazy bitch, but not Nico. He just kisses me on the head and says, “I missed you too, baby. God. I fucking missed you so much. I thought I would die all over again.”

I pop my head up and stare at him.

“All over again?”

He nods slowly.

“Yeah, I died on the way to the hospital. I had to be revived.”

“Nico,” I gasp as the pain fills me completely.

“Enough, Bella. Let it go. It happened. I’m alive. Having you like this makes it all worth it.”

Placing his hand on my face, he stares into my eyes while he admits, “I never thought I was capable of anything other than hate. I’m mostly evil, but for you, I have love. Something I never thought was possible. When I saw you, believing I was dead, and you were so broken, I knew the truth, baby. Maybe you won’t admit it, but you love me too.”

Love? That’s not something I’ve even thought about, but how else do you describe being so desperate for someone that you’re willing to take lives, just to hear the person’s voice again? I don’t think there’s any other reasonable explanation.

“I love you too, Nico.”

He tilts his head and asks, “Why are you blushing? Are you embarrassed to admit that you love me?”

I shrug my shoulders.

“I don’t know. It’s weird. Those aren’t words I’ve said to anyone before. I wasn’t a virgin before, but you’re my first in this way, and I never thought I loved you, but it makes sense. My life hasn’t been easy. I've been through many points of heartbreak, but when I saw, on the news, you were dead…”

I close my eyes and shake my head. When I reopen them, he’s still staring at me.

“I’ve never felt devastation so great. The emotional pain so excruciating, it radiated through my entire body. I didn’t honestly know why I felt like that, but now it makes sense. I love you. Even though I’ve never known what love was.”

Wrapping his arms around my waist, he flips me over to my back. Hovering over me, he stares at me with a heated expression.

“What are you doing?”

He pulls himself out of his pants, reaches under his t-shirt I’m wearing, and pushes my panties to the side.

“I need to be inside you, living dead girl.”

“Are you ever not hard?” I ask, as he slides inside me.

He smirks at me before shaking his head.

“With you around? No, baby. If I could stay inside this pussy twenty-four hours a day, I would. Now be a good girl and tell me those words again.”

Hovering over me, with one hand on the mattress, he cradles the side of my face with the other, while I give him what he wants.

“I love you, Nico.”

His hand trembles slightly, as he moves in and out of my pussy, and the features on his face, for once, show emotion.

“I’ll still hurt you, because I need it. Your tears are beautiful, so I’ll still make you cry, but I’ll protect you with my fucking life.”

Leaning his head forward, he places his lips on mine, and kisses me like I’m everything he has ever needed. No one has ever made me feel more complete, but there’s a danger in feeling so content. Like a house of cards, it could tumble easily.

“Tell me this never ends, Nico. Swear to me, I’m not going to lose you.”