Bounty Hunter [REWRITTEN VERSION]

Chapter 61: Something Stupid

MAIZE

Her voice was low as she spoke quietly, looking down at the place on his chest as she couldn't find the strength to raise her eyes any higher.

"You wanted the truth, Detective." Her voice shook as she said, "There you have it." All of it. The truth of her sins. The shadows of her past. The reason and fault that they were in their current situation. She had been hiding it for so long, trying not to remember, hoping one day she might forget completely.

But the past did not forget, and as it would have it, it did not forgive either.

She refused to look at Alec's face for fear of what she might see there—horror? Disappointment? Perhaps that would have been better, easier. She knew how to deal with emotions like those, she knew how to take it.

He pulled her closer and rested his jaw over the top of her head and she froze helplessly with wide eyes of shock.

"You're the strongest person I've ever met Maize..." Alec whispered into her hair, his chest rising and falling under the palm of her hand with every calm breath that seemed to soothe her as well. "And I mean that from the depths of my heart."

She couldn't move, she could hardly breathe. "Weren't you listening?" she questioned raggedly, her voice coming out as a near laugh but without a trance of anything but remorse. "This is my fault. He's after me because...he wants revenge for what I did to him." And everything he believes I took from him.

Alec then pulled back just enough to stare down at her with a hard glare in his eyes. "This is his fault," he stated firmly. "You didn't ask for what happened to you, and you didn't ask him to come after you—let alone like this. None of this is your fault. None of it."

"You're wrong..." she whispered meekly into his chest, unable to comprehend how he could still stand to look at her. Then she repeated the word louder as she pushed herself away. "You're wrong. Fucking hell Alec—I almost got you killed! Hill too, and Ryder!"

"So? We're all still alive aren't we? Last I checked, I'm standing right here."

She narrowed her eyes and shook her head violently. "That's not the point Alec!" she exclaimed frustratedly.

"Then I don't see your point," he stated briskly, now chin tipped down to glare at her.

She clenched her fists. The asshole. Couldn't he see he had a false vision of her and everything she was? "Dammit, I'm not a strong person, West!" She said firmly, "And quite frankly—I've never been a good one either."

"Well I'm telling you; you are!" Alec was gaining a hint of anger in his voice—and she invited it, she wanted his anger.

"And I'm telling you; I'm not."

"Goddammit Maize—" He exclaimed as the last of his patience flew out the window. Good. She wanted this—needed this. His anger was what she deserved wasn't it?

"What the hell do you think you can say to change my mind?" She questioned, anything to keep their pointless arguing as her heartbeat raced for many mixed reasons. The snap of his glaring eyes to her only intensified the rush of adrenaline sparking in her blood.

One heartbeat he said nothing. Then with a flashing look of utter defiance, he cupped her face and drew her in to him in a movement too sudden to even comprehend. He silenced her indefinitely; the feel of his mouth was on her own was hot, urgent, radiating with desirable heat—and she found herself responding with just as much fire. It wasn't frantic; only shared for an instant, but god, there had been so much in that kiss. So much said, so much left unsaid, all at once as it felt her insides were lighting up.  Without ever really realizing, how long had she been craving this? Him. Even if she didn't know, his answer seemed clear enough.