(betts) ⚜’s Reviews > Branded > Status Update

“I’ve got nothin’ to give you, only a bloody past and a prison record. I can’t breathe with too many people around. I can’t sleep without holdin’ you in my arms. I’m barely a man so it terrifies me to be standin’ here and tellin’ you this but you deserve to know. You deserve to know that I love you. I’m in love with you. You’re the only woman I’ve ever loved.”

“The world won’t feel so crowded then, right? With just you and me.”
His eyes bore into mine. “No.”

“What happens to the ones who don’t make it through the program?”
Arsen studies me for a few seconds, his features tightening once again. “They disappear. For good.”

“You know,” I begin, letting go of his collar and stepping away, “ever since you got up all in your feelings for that girl, you’ve turned into a real fuckin’ pussy. And you know which girl I’m talkin’ about, don’t you.”
I’m not surprised when it comes.
His fist. That he plants on my jaw.

“You’re still paying for your crimes, aren’t you?” I remind him. “All those letters you wrote, they didn’t even have your right name on them.”
His eyes flick back and forth between mine.
“So then, you’ll write me a letter every day and you’ll start with Dear Reverie.”
“Dear Reverie.”
“Yes, and then end it with Your Arsen.”

“I’ll fit. Even if it takes the whole goddamn night, I’m gonna make it fit.”
“It’s t-too much. You’re too much.”
“Yeah, I am. So this time, instead of being a fuckin’ brat, you’ll listen to me and do as I say, yeah?”

You call me your criminal asshole cowboy and that’s exactly what I am. I’m a selfish fuckin’ piece of shit, baby, because I’ll take what you give me and I’ll steal what you don’t.

He’s as tall and broad—
I realize that when people say burly, he is what they’re talking about.
—that wicked scar running down the side of his face. From the top of his forehead all the way to the bottom of his left jaw.
And he has to be the prettiest man I’ve ever seen. His eyes are a glimmering green, and those scarred lips are thick and plush.

“Because love’s worse than any wild animal in these woods. A wolf would kill you but love’s the kind of animal that’ll eat you up but won’t let you die. It’ll keep you alive and in pain for the rest of your life.”

A strange kind of intensity wafts from him and his voice. “Don’t like when men put their hands on things that belong to me just as much as I don’t like those things putting their hands on other men.”
“I’m not a thing,” I remind him.
He hums. “Semantics.”
“And I definitely do not belong to you.”
“I’ve got a paper in my pocket that says different.”