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last update Last Updated: 2025-03-04 22:28:26

Rook POV

His gaze meets mine, and there’s something dark there, something wrecked and spiraling, something that makes my fucking chest tighten.

I keep my hand at his throat, but softer now, my thumb brushing over his jaw instead of holding him in place.

“You think this fixes it?” I ask, my voice quieter now, the edge fading. “Letting some stranger touch you like you’re nothing?”

He laughs, but there’s no humor in it. “Maybe I needed to feel like nothing.”

That’s it. That’s the fucking truth of it, the thing he’s been chasing, the thing that’s been eating away at him since the second he walked out of that fight alive.

He doesn’t want to feel powerful. He doesn’t want to feel like a survivor. He wants to feel like he’s not even fucking there.

I don’t think. I just react.

My hand slides from his throat, moving into his hair as I grip it tight and pull his head back, forcing his mouth against mine.

It’s not soft, not careful, not any of the things it should be. It’s a claim, a fucking bra
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Emmi
Kade needs to talk
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