So much was different between Rogue and me.

So much remained the same.

He was still who he was, the man I had feared and came to understand. He would still remain who he was—a mystery to me, and every day, I get to peel off each of his layers. I loved him and he knew that now. It hadn't been the right moment to say those words, but would there ever be a right moment?

Has everything between us ever been normal? We could never be normal. We could never be like everybody else and I understood that. There were certain things I had no choice but to trust him with, one of them being giving himself all to me. The whole of him. Not a slight piece, but everything. I refused to accept anything else.

He taught me to want more than I got, and what mattered was that he knew I would always want more. He wanted that as well. I understood he was a man who wanted to take charge, to control, and be submitted to. He had shown me that part of him more times than I could count, but he had kept himself in check for me. He wanted to be good for me, but he had never been good. He wasn't a monster, but he was in between.

I figured out that I contributed to changing him. Pete wasn't the only one who held him on a chokehold—I was unconsciously doing it to him by keeping him from being himself. Rogue was scared of losing me so he tried to be the good man he wanted me to see. I never wanted him to change who he was for me. Above all else, I wanted him to be who he truly was; Rogue and Tyson.

I didn't remember falling asleep or ever saying goodbye to Anna. When I woke up sometime in the night, I was on my bed. My clothes had been changed and the spot next to me was empty, leaving a brush of coldness behind. But I could hear the shower running and relief washed through me, knowing he was still close. I forced myself to lie back down and shake away any remnants of sleep. I slept for a few hours. I hadn't realized I had been so tired until I couldn't feel the slight ache at the back of my head and my body seemed to have relaxed.

Moments later, I was up on my feet, pushing myself towards the bathroom door.

The door opened just a crack and I peeked inside. The bathroom was steamy, so I couldn't see anything at first. The steam drifted out of the room and settled on my face and neck. There was a mirror in front of me, and I could make out his image in the shower. He was facing the shower so I could only see him in profile. His skin was pink and white from the intensity of the water. One arm was braced against the wall, his long legs spread for balance as his head dipped toward his chest.

He seemed to be in deep thought, forgetting the water that was cascading down his back. I wondered if he was thinking about what I said earlier. If it had bothered him to find me asleep and couldn't wake me up to confront me. I wondered if he was hurting from losing his best friends. At least, the latter was more appropriate. A gush of sadness entered me that I couldn't take away his pain. There was nothing I could do but watch, and I didn't even want to watch him go through the pain anymore.

I slowly shut the door and crept back into bed, tucking my legs under me.

I heard the bathroom door open and the soft scrape of Rogue's feet against the carpet as he made his way toward the bed. I felt the bed dipped as he got between the covers, feeling him relax into the mattress.

"When did you wake up?"

"A few minutes ago," I whispered with my back toward him.

He slowly dropped a light kiss on my bare arm as his wet chest met with my back and his damp fingers traced along the arm he had kissed, leaving me tingling in their wake.

"Turn around." His voice was low, deep with fatigue but he still managed to sound sexy. I didn't turn around just yet. I contemplated if I should be because I still found myself feeling shy towards him. I knew he hadn't forgotten what I said, and neither could I forget it.

His body pressed deeper into mine, and for a moment I just let him be close. "Turn around. Please?" His forehead pressed hard against the nape of my neck.

My lungs rose and fell deeply. "I'm so sorry about Pete and Veronica," I muttered without turning around.

"Ah, hmm." He sighed in response as if he wished things could be so simple.

I shifted, turning my body around. I tucked my arms under my head and stared up at him. "I feel like this is particularly my fault. If I hadn't come in between you—if I hadn't met you, you still would have them in your life, but I'm ruining everything, aren't I? I came into your life and I chased away the most important people in your life."

He smiled a little and pushed an errant lock of hair behind my ear. "You're equally as important," he said and my heart swelled in my chest. "And you didn't chase them away, Beth. It was their decision, one that I knew was coming, if not now, then someday."

"Don't try to make me feel better. They never would have left if I hadn't spoken to Pete. I was only trying to help you...I didn't think he was going to do this, Rogue. I'm not someone who swoops in and ruins friendships. That wasn't my intention."

"Shh." He continued to smile and stroked my hair with so much silent affection. "I know that you had good intentions, which is why no one blames you for this. Pete needs to lay low, figure out his next step and I need to figure out things on my own. I need to clear a path for our future." He smoothed back my hair. "Now, can we talk about what you said? I don't quite remember. You have to repeat it."

My heart pounded and my cheeks flushed. "Weird," I said, my breathing evening out. "I don't seem to remember."

Rogue's eyebrows lifted and a smile played on his lips. "You don't remember?"

"Why did it really take you three months before you approached me again?" I decided to ask instead.

He cocked his head. "I thought I told you why." When I didn't respond, he rested his palms on his knees. "I argued with myself about you for three months, deciding if I should approach you or not. In the end, I didn't quite manage to convince myself to stay away."

"So, you came back and decided to be part of the collaboration with Sinclair, why? I didn't think it was something the CEO would bother himself with."

"If I didn't step in, Pete would have. He wanted to so he could be near you. If I hadn't stepped forward, I don't know how things would have turned out. He saw you and he was interested in you again. I didn't like that. It always felt like I was running away from you and running to you at the same time."

I sat up straighter. I didn't really know how to say what I wanted to say, but it didn't have to be hard, did it? It was simple, and yet I had to process it. Had to let it sink in for the second time now.

"I've always needed control," he said when I had stayed silent. "When people are submissive towards me, I like it. I needed it. But you were difficult. From the moment I grabbed you from your house, I didn't need your submission. I liked how you fought me for dominance, despite not being successful." His hand cupped my cheek. "I need you to know that I won't ever try to control or dominate you." Rubbing my lower lip, he added, "I'm going to let you do that. I want to be submissive towards you."

Something stirred in me—something bigger, that I grasped. It slammed through me like a gust of wind, knocking my breath out.

I looked up at him as he gazed down at me. "I love you," I confessed what I felt. What I had always felt. The feelings were strong and I couldn't deny it.

Rogue was still, silent.

"Did you hear me?"

His lips curved up ever so slightly. "Can you repeat that?"

Grinning, I crawled into his lap, straddling him. His arms came around my hips immediately. "I love you," I said again. Rogue searched my eyes, studied my features as though he expected to see doubt etched in my expression. "I love you. Does that satisfy you?"

He shook his head.

I put my hands on his cheeks and bent down to graze my mouth against his. "I love you." A whisper this time. A light brush again. "I love you."

Rogue reached out with one hand and ran his fingers from my elbow to my wrist. He pressed his lips to the inside of my wrist, then gently coaxed me to lay back down on the bed. He studied me from where he knelt on the bed before his fingers touched my skin lightly. Grabbing my left leg, he kissed each finger lightly. He pressed his lips to them softly, gently moving down to the top of my foot.

His lips lingered there for a moment, then moved his kisses down to the sole of my foot, planting wet kisses there. He did it so gently and attentively that my heart tingled. He was taking his time with his kisses, worshiping every part of my flesh. It moved me so much that I wanted to grab his head and bring it to me, but he shook his head at me.

"Let me," he murmured softly.

I let him. He carried on, moving away from my foot to my leg. He gave the flesh attention and I made a slight sound because of the emotions that were driving through me. Rogue grabbed the other leg and did the same thing, taking his time with his kisses. When he moved upward to my thigh, he planted more kisses there, and then he allowed me to pull him up to my face.

However, he didn't allow me to kiss him. He enclosed his arms around my neck and hugged me. It startled me for a bit because it wasn't what I expected. Rogue embraced me so tightly that it was quite hard to breathe. I didn't complain. I could tell that he wanted it. Needed it. And with each tight of his arm, I could feel his emotions passing through me.

When he pulled away, he petted the side of my head and we stared at one another for what felt like an eternity. As I stared up into his enigmatic hazel eyes, it was hard to ignore the sensual line of his jaw. He looked beautiful, more beautiful on any day. Slowly, I brought my hands up to his face. Knowing how soft he was, the urge to touch him was something I never wanted or planned to fight off.

"Beth," he called my name with such an intensity that my breath caught for a moment. Rogue raked his fingers through my hair before pressing his forehead to mine. "I love you," he breathed.

My heart slammed around in my chest as the fire in my veins seemed to burn me from the inside out. His mouth found mine before I could find my words. He kissed me so hard we both made a painful sound. My hands weaved through his hair. He moaned into my mouth, and my feelings for him exploded. His feelings for me were coming in tenfold, suffocating me.

Abruptly, his touch turned soft and he kissed me so gently I wanted to cry. "I love you, Bethany," he whispered against my mouth. I moaned loudly at his words. "I've always wanted to say that." His heartbeat hard against mine. "and mean it."

Rogue took a deep ragged breath and placed his forehead against my shoulder. "I've loved you from the moment you accepted who I am and I can't, fuck, I can't lose you. Don't want to." He punctuated the last line by gathering my hair behind my neck and pulled sharply, tilting my chin up so he could reclaim my mouth with his.

He finally picked his head back up and looked at me. He conveyed so many things at once: need, love, obsession, and want. But there was one that stood out to me. It screamed at me, demanded me to see it. It was loyalty. Right from this moment, Rogue had vouched to be loyal to me. To love and to cherish. I became something important. A part of his life. Someone he couldn't live without because I was the only one who could accept him. I was the only one who would love this man who had lived a lie his entire life. A man who would continue to live that lie.

Rogue knew I understood that and yet, I wanted to remain by his side. I chose to remain in his arms and I chose to remain the one thing he loved. That alone shattered any doubt in his mind. I may love him a lot, but it was possible that he loved me more. He respected me even more because I accepted him the way he was. Nothing else could surpass what I had done for him.

I loved and accepted a lie.

I was going to live in that lie.

Because I loved him, I didn't care.

A different face or a different name wasn't going to change how I felt.

Rogue hurled me off the bed and threw me over his shoulder, carrying me out of the room. I giggled when he slapped my ass the second I protested, so I let him put me inside the elevator. We were both barefooted and he was shirtless, but I guess he didn't care.

The elevator took us to his workshop before he permitted himself to put me down. When I turned, my jaw dropped.

"Did you get robbed?" I stared at an empty workshop where his missing sculptures used to be. The only thing I could see was his equipment. "Rogue." I turned to face him and he laughed at the look on my face.

"I didn't get robbed. No one would dare," he retorted, all smug and sexy. His fingers grazed my arm as he moved past me, striding into the empty workshop. He looked around the place with a smile on his face. "I donated all the sculptures."

That sure startled me. I crossed over to him. "But those were your memories," I pointed out in shock. Memories that were important to him. I couldn't believe he donated the sculptures when he couldn't even let the gallery own a few.

"Yeah, those were memories," he responded absently, then swung around to face me. "But I realized they were more painful memories that I couldn't continue holding on to. If I intend to move forward and heal, this was the very first step." He glanced at the room again. His smile was free.

I moved close to him, gripping his arm. "I'm so proud of you, Rogue. I know this couldn't have been easy and I know it won't erase all the pain you've been through, but I hope that it will ease some of it." I wrapped my arms around his waist and hugged him. "I'm going to be here for you, every single day..." I joined our fingers together. "to make new memories with you."

Rogue pulled back and kissed my forehead. "I'm so weak when it comes to you." He cupped his hands around my chin. "So fucking weak. You make me lose my head. I try to be good and make the best decisions around you." Then his mouth was too busy kissing me to say anything else.

We ended up making love through the night, holding each other, kissing, whispering words we had never said to anyone else. We wrapped ourselves in this love we had found ourselves in. The love that taught Rogue what it felt like to be accepted. The love that taught me of a bond formed that was missing from all my one-night stands. What it felt like to us to belong to someone.