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The last thing I wanted was to walk any closer to Rhodes. To her brightness, her color. It only made me realize just how gray my world had become.
She laughed, and the sound hit me somewhere in the vicinity of my chest, digging in and spreading through me. That pins-and-needles sensation you got when a numb limb finally regained feeling.
I should tell her it was a mistake, that it couldn’t keep happening. The thought had me wanting to heave the crowbar into the wall and destroy everything around me. Because the moments I was with Rho, when I heard her laugh, drowned in the feel of her, they were the only times since Greta died when I felt true peace.
The thought had nausea sweeping through me, fury fast on its heels. Because someone had tried to hurt Rho. Someone had tried to snuff out the only tiny pinpricks of light I had in my life.
I didn’t move. Not as Rho walked away. Not as she climbed into the darkened SUV. Not as the vehicle pulled out and left. I just kept staring. Watching as the one thing that had made me happy for even the briefest moment disappeared right out of my life.
“Can’t handle being away from you,” he croaked. “Especially not when you’re hurting.” He swallowed hard. “I didn’t want to care about anyone. But you shot that all to hell.” My heart hammered against my ribs, butterfly wings dying to break free. A muscle fluttered in Anson’s cheek. “You didn’t sneak past my defenses, you bulldozed them. Reckless to the bone. And maybe you made me brave enough to be reckless, too.”
“None of us is just one thing. We’re not all good or all bad. We’re a blend of shadow and light. And those sparks only shine because of the darkness.”
“You make me want to reach for things I thought were dead and buried. You make me feel again,”
“I’d go to hell and back for you.”
“No one’s more important to me than you, Rho. You’re everything.
“I love you,” I croaked. “Shut up,” Silas barked, tugging my hair in a vicious shake. The tears fell faster as pain surged in my head, but I didn’t stop. “I don’t regret loving you for a single second. Scared the hell out of me, but it brought me back to life.” “Reckless,” Anson choked out. “I’ll always love you.”
Wherever Rho was, that’s where I wanted to be. The cost didn’t matter. Because she was my sanctuary. I’d just never realized how fragile it all was.
“Don’t, Reckless. Don’t leave me.” I squeezed her hand harder. A tear slipped free, landing on Rho’s cheek and turning the ash pure black. “I love you.”
“I didn’t want to let you in. Didn’t want to care about anyone. It felt like such a risk.” My heart hammered against my ribs as blood roared in my ears. Was this it? The time he told me he couldn’t do this? Couldn’t handle the pain a relationship could bring? “But you stormed in anyway. You tore down every wall I put up. I didn’t want to love you. But I fucking do. With every part of me. It’s not a sappy love. It burns. Scars. It changed me. All in the best ways. I love you, Rho. And it killed that I was too scared to give you those words until now.”
“Home is wherever you are,” he whispered. “You’re my sanctuary. Where I feel peace. Where I feel seen. Don’t want anything more.”
“You gave me air when I thought I’d never breathe again. You gave me color when my world had gone black. You see every part of me. I don’t want to spend another moment without you. Marry me.”
Anson slid the ring onto my finger. “Had to be a pink diamond for my colorful, reckless girl. A flower for the queen of life.” His lips hovered over mine. “I love you.”
