Be With Me

by Gabrielle Sands

To all the girls who gave too much and asked for too little—no wonder you prefer the villain who tells you to be selfish while he burns the world to keep you.

My best friend’s engagement party was today, and I wasn’t invited.

I hated upsetting people. Especially those closest to me.

Maybe you mean a lot less to her than you think.

I was a piece on someone else’s chessboard, moved at will.

She helped people. I destroyed them.

Men weren’t born hardened. They were made that way by someone’s heavy hand until nothing soft remained.

Mia Morales had infected my black heart with a virus that compelled me to do right by her. Fuck knows if I’d ever recover.

I didn’t like feeling. Period.

“Why are you smiling?” I sighed. “It happens when I look at you. Can’t explain it. Maybe you have a theory?”

She’d rewired something fundamental inside me, some critical connection in my brain.

We didn’t speak for the rest of the evening. But I spent the entire goddamn night watching her.

Apparently, Starbucks coffee was a notch above espresso-flavored piss. His words, not mine.

The longer I spent away from her, the worse everything became.

For everyone else watching, Mia was a side character given a few minutes to say her piece before the cameras zoomed back in on her father. But for me? She was the star of the fucking show.

I couldn’t deny it anymore. I. Wanted. Her.

I wanted the real thing. I wanted us in the same room, breathing the same air, having a fucking conversation.

I wanted more. So much more. I wanted everything she’d give me. Even if it wouldn't be her all.

I’d be asking to be her dirty little secret for a while.

The only thing I was sure of was that I was done staying away.

“Tell me…who takes care of you?”

“Now, if you’ll excuse us, your presence is no longer required. Leave.”

“What do you really want?” I asked. A beat passed. “You.”

“I can’t fucking sleep. Every time I close my eyes, I see you so vividly that I can practically taste you.” Romolo leaned in, brushing his lips against my temple. “I don’t know what the fuck you’ve done to me, Berry, but I need to get you out of my system. And I think you need to get me out of yours too.”

“We should do everything we’ve fantasized about.” My brow furrowed. How long was her list? Because we sure as fuck weren’t going to get through mine in one night. Not when every time I looked at her, I found another thing to obsess over.

You were made for me,

She glanced up, catching me staring. “You know, you don’t have to stay. You’re probably so bored.” Bored? I was entranced.

Because I’d fucking eat anything she offered me

When I first met Rom, I thought we were opposites. He was rough where I was gentle. Abrasive where I was soft. Disillusioned where I was optimistic. But we were the same. Both of us were starved for the love we'd never received.

She could hate me. The whole damn world could hate me. I didn’t care anymore. I just needed Romolo to be alive.

But maybe you’re not as smart as I believed.” “Thanks for the opinion no one asked for,”

“Before, I only knew how to destroy. But now? I’ll learn how to build. If you’ll let me, I’ll build a life with you. One where you will feel safe, loved, and so fucking cherished that you will never doubt that you belong by my side. Not for a single second.”

“I want to be the man you deserve and I know I fucking can be. If you give me another chance, I’ll spend the rest of my life proving it to you.”

“I love you like I’ve never loved anything in my goddamn life. It’s terrifying. It’s relentless. You’ve gotten under my skin and into my soul, and you didn’t even try. Somewhere along the way, I stopped being mine and became yours.”

“I wasn’t living before I met you, Mia. I was just existing. Trying to drown the parts of me I couldn’t face. But you—you came in with all your light, and suddenly there was nowhere left to hide. You cracked me open. Made me feel again.” She bit on her lip, emotions flickering across her face. “I’d tried to run from those feelings. But I’m not running anymore. I fucking love you.”

“We don’t have to hide anymore.” He pressed a kiss just behind my ear. “You mean I get to show you off? Walk into a room with you on my arm?”