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James pats him on the back. “Ezra, you’re not making any friends, man.”

I ignore them. I jump over the cooking site and am out of view before Jade can stop me. I step toward the shelter, only to find it empty. Luckily, it’s a clear night, and the moon and stars create just enough light to sort of see where I’m going.

“London,” I call out for her, but she doesn’t answer. I pause and listen—for her breaths, her rustling, her heartbeat—for any sign of her. She can’t have run far, so she’s hiding.

“London, I’m never going to stop looking for you, so you might as well come out and talk to me.”

I hear a faint sob and a crunch of snow. I take a few steps and see her kneeling down, her head hanging in front of her. Her hair is muddy and messy, but she looks so fucking sexy. My stomach knots with a mix of emotions, aware of where she is standing and who is currently consuming her thoughts.

And it’s not fucking me.

“London,” I say in a low voice. She’s so close, yet so far away right now.

“Stay back, Micah. Don’t touch me right now. This isn’t a game.”

I tilt my head, but she continues to keep her eyes downcast. “Talk to me, baby. Let me explain.”

However, I don’t really have anything to say about it. I did all the things she is mad about.

I tied her up and left her alone.

I abandoned her.

I didn’t chase her when I should have.

She looks up at me, and her face is expressionless and cold. She opens her mouth slightly to say something, but no words come out. She won’t give me a fucking word.

I reach out to her, needing to touch her. I grab her hand, and she flinches when I squeeze it. Something’s wrong. Her hand is limp and distorted.

“Your hand is broken again.” My stomach turns, thinking about what she must have done to get out of the binds I had her left in. What must have been going through her head as she shattered her own hand to escape me.

She probably thought I wasn’t coming back, that she had no choice…

No wonder she can’t look at me.

I kneel in front of her, pull her chin, and force her to look at me. Even though she’s caked with dirt, all I can see are her gorgeous, full lips in the moonlight.

“I didn’t mean to do this to you,” I tell her.

“Ezra was right about you,” she whispers, pulling her hand away. “I didn’t want to believe she was the reason why you didn’t come back for me or try to find me. But she was, wasn’t she?”

I wipe some of the dirt on her face with my thumb, and damn, she’s the most beautiful girl in the world. I don’t know if I can be this close to her without her being mine. “Ezra hates me, London. He’s poisoning your brain.”

She stands, and I stay on my knees, placing my hands on either side of her slender waist.

She’s so small, so breakable.

“Ezra didn’t tie me up and leave me for two days,” she mutters and turns her head away. But her little body is pressed right against me, sending a throb right to my cock.

She tries to wiggle away, but I don’t relent on my hold. I breathe her in, so fucking happy to have her in my arms again, and I don’t let go. Her fingers find mine, and she unwraps them one by one. She looks down at me, her expression chilling me to the core.

I squeeze my brows together. “Please, baby. I’m so sorry for doing that to you. I’m on my knees for you, London. I’m begging for you to hear me right now. Can you not see that was the worst mistake I’ve ever made?”

She grazes her fingers over my cheek, not touching me, but the heat of her fingers lingers. “You left me,” she breathes. “I waited for you even after I got out. I so desperately wanted you to come back, but you didn’t. You left me so vulnerable, Micah.”

My eyes flash as that rage rolls through me again, thinking of Ezra. “Did Ezra hurt you?”

She pinches her lips together. “No more than you did. And he’s not the one I was referring to.”