IN SOME other alternate universe, I might have believed him. I might have trusted his words, taken them in, drank them until I was drunk beyond my mind, and I would keep them safe inside my heart. He did it because of me, for me, to please me. Oh, how many times did I wish for something like this to happen? To have him do something that I asked. To have him free me, let me go, love me, please, just once, but now that he was truly doing it, confessed to it, I could only laugh.
It was not intentional. No. It was not because I was mocking him. It was more than that. The laughter just sputtered out of me like a hiccup. I could not help it. It went out, carried by my breath, and by the time I realized I was laughing, the humor came, and I really laughed.
Rhys’ hold on me tightened. The more t
