Ex with Benefits

I told myself I was protecting him. That was the only reason I looked him in the eye at seventeen and lied well enough to make him hate me.

It wasn't the whole truth.

Dom was the only person I ever let in. Then I chose The Family and made sure he didn't follow. The cruelest thing I ever did was make him believe I wanted him left behind.

Fifteen years later, my father sends me back to Cresson Point. I know Dom is here. I have every intention of staying out of his way.

He finds me on the third day.

The feelings aren't old. They aren't faded. They're exactly where I left them, and so is he — bigger, angrier, and still the only person alive who can make me feel like I'm worth something more than what I've become.

I can't give him what he deserves. I know what I am. I know what I've done. But every time I try to leave him alone, he finds me again. And I'm starting to think the worst thing I could do is keep letting him.

There are people who want me dead. The man I love is already in their way.