Puppet Master

Chapter Thirty Three

His head rose from her lap as he stared at her with penetrating, icy eyes, his voice cold and aloof when he spoke, “So I was right, you are judging me for this, despite everything.”

“No, Jay, I’m not! I’m judging what I can stand to take from you, against what I think I will get from you in return! I’ve laid open my heart, my body, and you’ve not even given me the simplest of facts about your life! I feel like all I know is the superficial stuff, Jay! And I feel like that’s all that you see in me!”

Her words carved their way into his soul, because he knew she was right. He should have known that this was how it all turned out, should have realised that no matter how he protected her, he could never bring her into his world wearing a blindfold and her fragile heart on her sleeve.

All he’d done was convince her that she was disposable to him, in trying to keep her safe.

“That couldn’t be further from the truth, Tor, I can promise you that.”

“That’s not enough.”

“Then let me prove it to you,” he whispered, pulling her into his arms, his thumb stroking the baby fine hair at her temple as she was crushed into his chest, “Will you come home with me?”

Right or wrong, he felt her nod her head against his chest.

“Thank you,” he whispered against her lips.

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It took over an hour to drive out of the city, to Jayden’s apartment, a little less than expected, but he never stuck to anybody’s rules, and drove like a mad man. He’d always done that.

The entire trip was done in complete silence, she just stared sightlessly at the blur of scenery outside of the passenger window, as it rushed past her eyes.

He’d settled for a large penthouse suite almost half an hour away from their childhood town. It struck her suddenly that she’d never even asked where he lived now, so much had changed in the three years since she’d moved away, so much that she’d always expected to be completely stable in her life.

But time doesn’t hang suspended, it moves without you even registering.

And very few things will stay constant through that.

Coming around to open her car door, he took her hand to help her rise from the seat, and turning without a word into the building.

The staircase and entrance hall were completely generic, as he led her through to a lift at the far end, she looked around at various shades of magnolia and beige that created a minimalistic effect of quality without imagination.

She watched him punch in the buttons to take them up to the fourth floor, and a security code that must take the place of a key, she thought, as the steel doors opened to bring them into a vast, open lounge and kitchen area.