His Trouble Maker

Chapter 98

GRAYSON

She doesn’t mean it.

That’s what I tell myself while her voice rips through me like claws through flesh. But that doesn’t make the words hurt any less.

You’re a coward.

She spit it at me like it was a truth she’d been sharpening for months, and maybe it was. Maybe she meant every syllable. Maybe I earned it.

I am a fucking coward when it comes to her. Maybe being Alpha isn’t enough if I can’t even keep her safe. Maybe I’m so stubborn–so godsdamn obsessed with wanting her in this lifetime–that I’ve ruined everything.

But what can I do?

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What the fuck can I do when I am so in love with her?

“Let me go!” she screamed it again, rage curdled into something half–broken, half–feral. I shoved the door open with my shoulder and kicked it closed behind us, one arm locked around her ribs, the other fending off the hits she didn’t even realize she was landing.

“You’re not going out there,” I growled, breath ragged, forehead pressed to hers for a second too long. “Not like this.”

Her hands shoved at my chest. “You don’t get to tell me what to do.”

“I do when you’re bleeding and ready to kill someone and you can’t fucking stand.”

“I’ll crawl.”

“You’ll fucking die.”

“I don’t care!”

That did it. I grabbed her by the shoulders and shoved her backward, her legs buckling as she hit the floor. I was on her in seconds, my hands pinning her arms down, my weight trapping her.

“You don’t fucking care?” ! spat, voice guttural, my breath harsh against her cheek. “You don’t fucking care if you die?”

She thrashed against me–hips jerking, teeth bared, trying to tear free–and I pressed harder, shoved my thigh between hers to trap her legs from kicking again.

“Yes!”

“Yes, I’d rather fucking die than stay here locked up like your broken little pet!”

She bucked again–hard–and I caught her with my body, my hand fisting in her hair, yanking her head back so I could see her, bare her throat, force her to face what she was saying.

“You don’t get to say that.” My voice broke low, sayage, ragged at the edges like I was choking on all the things I couldn’t fix. “You don’t get to look me in the eye and tell me death’s better than me.”

“I’ve almost killed Riot! We could’ve won and-

“And you could’ve died!” I roared, the sound/ripping out of me like it had claws. “You would’ve! You were seconds from bleeding out and you didn’t even

know it!”

“I didn’t care!” she screamed back, kicking at my thigh. “Do you know what he’s done to me?”

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Chapter 98

I froze.

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+38

“Jessica-”

but I didn’t move. Couldn’t. Not with the way she was shaking

into a sob, wild and strangled. “He locked the

My heart stopped.

rimmed in red like she’d scratched

she whispered, voice

angry. I’d been so godsdamn furious she ran out and risked everything. But that? That wasn’t fury anymore. That was shame. That was horror. That was my spine

her and

broken, scared for the

violently, like if she didn’t, she’d fall apart completely. “You don’t get to call me that. Not

wasn’t–but I

she whispered again, like she needed me to

And then she dropped.

find air, hair falling in

palms out, chest cracking open. “Look at me. Please.

curled into herself like she was folding in on something rotting inside her, hands over her ears, rocking. “I should’ve killed

wrists too hard but I didn’t/care–she was unraveling and I couldn’t let her, “You didn’t do anything wrong.

did.”

shaking like an earthquake had started in her bones. “I let him! I froze! I didn’t

grabbed her face. Firm. Fingers spread across her jaw, holding her there, anchoring her. “You

were so red, so wet,

staying alive,” I whispered, forehead falling to hers. “Don’t do that.

the top of her head, my throat burning with every apology I didn’t know how to say. My chest fucking ached. Jessica

been there. I should’ve ripped the door off its hinges. I should’ve gutted him before he ever laid a finger on her.

But I didn’t.

her suffer–watching her blame herself–watching her sob like she hated herself for surviving–was the cruelest punishment

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Tue, 26 Aug

Chapter 98

stop the sound she made when she whispered, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry

I broke.

63%

+38)

From the

to be strong enough to survive that

supposed

I fucking

go and tucked her in the bed. It’s more painful to see her hating herself than hating everyone

outside and found Theo. He’s reading some shit, while smoking at the back of this small house we’ve

the wall, hood up, cigarette glowing at

drama?” he muttered

up,” I snapped, jaw grinding.

one with shaking fingers but never really put it to my

with Pierce, under the bleachers, both of us coughing our lungs out before deciding we hated it. We

seventeen and free.

arms crossed, watching me through the smoke. “Don’t tell

the glowing tip in my hand–burning for no one. “Do you know what happened to her in the

The shift was instant.

He fucking knew.

exactly,” he said carefully. “Enough to want the bastard dead. But not

I swallowed hard.

“You saved me first.”

looked at me

a hand through