My Second Chance Mate is a Barbarian (Sera and Fenris) novel Chapter 287

Sera

"That's not fair."

"What's not fair is getting your shoulder fucked up by the person who's supposed to be your sister." She said it to the mirror, flat and even. "That wasn't so fair either."

"I know."

"Do you."

"I came here to say I'm sorry."

"Great. You said it."

"Mina, come on."

"No, I heard you. Sorry. Noted." She picked up the comb again. "Anything else?"

The air between us went thin and hot. I could hear the fire and my own breathing and the small scraping sound of the comb through hair that didn't need combing.

"What do you want me to do," I said. "Get on my knees? Crawl? What is it going to take for you to actually look at me?"

"I'm not stopping you."

"I do mean it."

"You mean it how you meant it last time. When you said sorry and then spent ten minutes telling me why you were right."

"I'm not doing that."

"You're already doing it. You walked in here with a compress and a speech and you're waiting for me to accept it so you can feel better. That's what you do. You manage people. Even when you're apologizing you're managing."

"I'm not managing you."

"Then stop performing."

"Fuck," I hissed through my teeth. My arms crossed tight over myself.

"Hey."

I didn't turn.

"Hey. Sera."

I shook my head. "You don't deserve this. Any of it. I'm a disturbed person who ropes people into my own shit and then blames them for being there." My voice cracked on the last part and I hated it. "That's what I did to you. That's what I keep doing."

Then her arms were around me.

She came from behind and wrapped herself around me and she didn't say anything first, she didn't warn me, she didn't ask permission, she closed the distance and held on. Her good arm went around my chest. The bad shoulder pressed into my back and I knew it hurt her and she did it anyway.

That's what broke me. It wasn't the words, and it wasn't the apology I couldn't get right. It was the fact that this girl I'd used, this girl I'd accused, this girl whose shoulder I'd wrenched into a wardrobe and who had every right to let me stand at that window and choke on it alone, had crossed the room and put her arms around me before I could put up a single defense.

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