We can all have our opinions about what’s best.
I want to shield her from anything that could hurt her.
You want to get her mind off of it.
I get it.
But ultimately, it’s her decision.
Both read my text this time. Kingston is first to react, nodding slowly, rubbing a hand over the stubble on his jaw. “She’s our initiate. But—”
“She’s our girl.” Archer gives a little shrug. “This particular situation should be dealt with on a personal level instead of as anything that has to do with the brotherhood.” His eyes flick to Kingston’s, who he knows would have the most issue with his vein of thought, but Kingston doesn’t argue at all, simply nods his approval.
I let out a deep breath, meeting Archer’s gaze as he hands the meal he’s prepared for me across the island.
Before we can finish our discussion, Zeke and Taggart wander down the hall from their rooms, joining us. “Hey,” Zeke says as he strolls past me to the fridge and pulls out a bottle of juice. “No Elliot?” He’s a bit too nosy sometimes if you ask me. His brow is raised as if he’s expecting us to give him some details, even though I’m positive Alec relayed every juicy detail of what had gone down when Elliot left the house to the rest of the brotherhood.
Hell, I wonder if that bastard Alec saw it happen. They’d all been curious yesterday and royal pains in my ass to get downstairs and out of our hair so we could get Elliot inside. There’d been no hiding the urgency in my expression and body language, and it pissed me off that they hadn’t immediately followed my request. It’s not like they didn’t know what I meant. There aren’t many ways one can take a jabbing of a finger at everyone, followed by a firm pointing of the same finger toward the stairs. And there was even less to be figured out once I started bodily hauling them off their asses and shoving them toward the stairs. I smirk at the memory of Bridger grumbling and me practically booting him across the room. I swear, that guy needs a kick to the ass to get him to do anything.
“She’ll be down later,” Archer answers, not giving a damn thing away.
Zeke shrugs, seeming a little irritated at our brush-off, but Taggart gives us a relieved look, then grabs a banana out of the bowl on the counter and heads over to sit at the dining room table with his sponsor. I feel both of their gazes at least partially on us as Kingston gets up, and we head toward the patio. If they want to run their mouths, they’d better not do it within my earshot.
Once outside, I set my breakfast on the glass-top patio table, taking one of the single seats and making sure I have my phone at the ready.
Archer settles himself on the double seat, and Kingston follows, sitting beside him. He eyes me. “So. We have something to fill you in on, but I’m going to let Archer explain because he was the one who found it.”
It?
Nodding, Archer lets out a sigh. “I don’t know if I should have done this, but if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have found what I did.” I eye him as he stops to clear his throat. He looks kinda miserable, so much so that I think for a moment he’s going to have trouble continuing. But then with a shake of his head, he murmurs, “And I really hope I don’t piss Elliot off by telling you this but… she was very honest and open about what little I asked her yesterday. I was afraid to push her too much, so we didn’t talk about why she started cutting or what our buddy Nick did to her that put her in that position in the first place.” He stops to wet his lips, and I can’t help but grimace at the mere mention of Nick. Archer puts his hands in his hair, tugging on it, like he’s still mulling over exactly what he needs to share. “I think it’s important for you both to be aware of something she told me before I explain why I turned her bathroom upside down.”
His words are tumbling out a mile a minute, but he’s not getting to the point very quickly, and my brain is going to explode if he doesn’t spit it out. I press my lips together as I let my fingers speak for me.
You’re killing me, Archer.
Just say it.
My eyes flick urgently to him as the notification pings.
He releases a huge sigh as he glances at my comments. “Fuck. Sorry. I’m still wrapping my head around it. Elliot said the first thought in her head was to somehow erase, mess up, cut out—whatever you want to call it—the mark Nick left on her.”
For a moment, I simply try to breathe while whatever creature is clawing at my heart tears it to shreds, and I rack my brain trying to remember if there was ever anything Elliot has said or done that would make me believe she’d follow through with something like that. I let out a disturbed sigh and lean forward to pick up my plate, shaking my head.
Kingston grimaces. “I hope she wouldn’t do anything like that. On one hand, it makes me nervous that she brought it up, but on the other hand”—his eyes meet Archer’s—“she shared the inclination with you, which I don’t think would have happened if she were planning to act on the urge.” He exhales hard, then shifts his gaze to me. “Cannon, what are your thoughts?”
I fork up some eggs, shoving them into my mouth, although I’m not tasting much of anything at all, I’m so disturbed with all the things that are running rampant through my head. I look from Kingston to Archer while I send a short and sweet response.
Can you blame her?
Archer winces. “You mean if someone had done that to you, you would react the same way she did?”
Fuck, yes.
Someone does something permanent
like that?
I’d want to get rid of it.
