Maybe—just maybe—if I stay still enough, he’ll go away. He’ll get the hint of the burial-like blankets I’ve submerged myself in, and he will surely go away.
“Cersia, I think we should talk,” Avian says, clearly not understanding my hints.
I really did think he was the smart one too.
A sigh leaves my lips, and I close my eyes once more.
I don’t have the energy today.
The blanket remains over my face, but I listen to his sweet words. I couldn’t ignore him if I wanted to.
“You know you don’t have to move this fast? It’s barely been a week, just take your time. Earn his trust slowly… I-I—”
Whatever sentiment was on the tip of his tongue, it’s pushed aside as the bedroom door bangs shut and another bossy male stomps all over my private little quietness.
“I canceled your night with the Prince,” Roman announces, his voice hard with assertive sureness.
At that sudden statement, I fling the blankets down and sit up with ramrod straight posture. “You did what?!” I can’t keep the annoyance from grating my tone.
“I told him you weren’t feeling well.” Roman lifts his bronze shoulders with a careless shrug that I want to shake right out of him.
My legs tangle with Avian’s as I climb on top of him, his silver eyes wide with stunned surprise.Surprise, bitch, I’m gonna kill your friend right in front of you.
I shove off of him, and my bare feet slam over each board as I bring myself inches from this little empty skulled man. “You fucked up my plans? You canceled the date I worked days to get?” My anger flares hot between us, and his pretty eyes darken as he looks down the straight line of his nose to glare properly at me.
“I saved you. I.Saved. You. You can say thank you now.”
“Thank you?!” My voice shakes so hard I nearly choke on it.
“Yeah. You’re fuckin’ welcome.”
Oh no, he didn’t.
My palms land on the smooth panes of his chest, and I shove him with all the strength I possess. He stumbles back, but he recovers fast, and he reacts even faster. Strong arms wrap around me like a vise, and my hair flings over my face as he spins me until my back is against his front. He holds my arms crisscrossed against my breasts, and I’m seething from the manhandling he seems to think he’s entitled to do.
Why do they hold me like this? All of them constantly spin me around like a princess, just wrap me into submission.
My foot lifts, but I quickly realize he’s wearing boots, and the pain there won’t be enough.
So my head flings back in the matter of half a second. Pain sears through my skull as I crack that blow against his perfect little nose.
“Fucckk,” he hisses like a sweet secret against the back of my neck. “Why do you hate my nose? Why? Fuck, Cersia!”
Fuck indeed.
“Okay, let’s calm down.” Avian stands, and though Roman is still cursing, he hasn’t released me yet either.
Impressive.
“She’s right,” Avian draws every ounce of my attention, and I look up at him through a tangle of hair hanging in my face. “Don’t put yourself in the Prince’s way again, Rome.” The intensity in the shifter’s gaze is as daunting as it is worried.
He’s worried about me as well as Roman.
“You can’t protect everyone, Av,” Roman grinds those words out, his hold on me wrapping around me in more of a touch of comfort rather than aggression.
Is he…is he hugging me right now?
What. The. Fuck.
