Rejected and Pregnant I Fled The Pack (Evelyn and Damon) novel Chapter 284

"Marissa." He turned his hand over and laced his fingers through mine, gently, giving me every chance to pull away. "Look at me."

I did. Moonlight caught the side of his face, and his eyes were steady and dark and very clear.

"I'm going to tell you something," he said, "and I need you to hear it as plainly as I mean it. You are not a debt I'm paying. You are not a problem I'm solving. I'm here because I want to be. Nobody ordered me. I can take care of myself, and I have a whole pack that can take care of me too. If your father shows up with lawyers and money and men in a car, he'll learn exactly how many people in this house are willing to stand between you and him. It isn't a small number."

I hiccuped on a sob. "What if you get hurt?"

"Then I'll get hurt on purpose, for something worth it." His thumb moved once across my knuckles. "That's allowed, you know. Choosing a risk. People do it all the time, and it doesn't make it your fault."

"That's not—" I wiped my face with my free hand. "That's not how it works. In my house, if something went wrong, it was because of me."

"I know," he said softly. "That's what they taught you. I'm sorry they did. But it was a lie, and I'm going to keep telling you so until you believe me."

My breath hitched, and more tears came, but they were different now. They felt like something loosening.

"Can I ask you something?" I said, in a small voice.

"Anything."

"Would you stay? Not for the whole night, just until I fall asleep. I know it's a lot to ask—"

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