“Callum.” Elias’s voice is sharp enough to cut off whatever words his brother was about to say.
Now that I know they’re brothers, the dynamic between them makes sense. I’d known they were family, as they were talking about a seemingly joint uncle, but in what capacity I was unsure.
“What?” Callum lifts a shoulder, unrepentant as his eyes gleam with mischief. “I’m just saying that you two are vibrating at a frequency that’s a little hard to ignore.”
My cheeks heat, unwanted and impossible to hide, but I roll my eyes hard enough to cover it.
“You’re insufferable,” I mutter, lacking any kind of heat to back it up.
“Guilty.” Callum’s grin widens, satisfied like he’s just won a round of an ongoing game between us.
Elias exhales through his nose, slow and measured, like he’s choosing restraint over strangling his brother in front of me. His broad shoulders shift as he straightens and crosses the short distance between us, extending a hand toward me. His palm is broad, his fingers long and thick.
“Elias,” he says simply.
My pulse stumbles in my throat as I stare at his hand for a beat, every nerve buzzing. I shouldn’t touch him or continue this conversation, knowing everything I have on the line here.
I shouldn’twantto.
But my hand lifts anyway, treacherous, and when our palms meet, the contact sears. His grip is firm and grounding, the warmth of his skin bleeding into mine until I feel it everywhere.
Heat races up my arm like a live current, and I hate the way my body leans toward it…toward him. I swallow hard, pulling my spine straighter and forcing my voice not to shake.
“Briar,” I answer in return.
His grip stays locked with mine, steady as stone, neither of us pulling away. The night hums around us, city noise fading into a distant blur under the weight of this charged stillness. His thumb shifts, the faintest drag against my skin, and my breathhitches before I can smother it. Something hot and dangerous threads between us, sparking along my nerves.
“Alright, I’m cutting in before someone spontaneously combusts,” Callum says as he pushes off the bench.
His words cause Elias to snatch his hand back just before his brother wedges himself neatly into the space between us. Callum’s grin is bright enough to scatter the building tension, but his eyes do nothing to assuage my interest.
If anything, he only adds to what his brother already brought to life within me as he murmurs in a low, sultry tone, “You’ve got that dazed look, baby. Careful, or Elias’ll think he’s the only one here who can keep your attention.”
Heat prickles across my cheeks. I open my mouth to snap something back, but he leans in closer, the faint scent of cedar and spice wrapping around me in the perfect distraction. “Besides,” he adds, voice dipping, “I make a hell of a better distraction.”
The words send a spark skittering through me, lighter but no less potent. I hate the way it curls low in my stomach, how both of them are pulling me like opposing magnets.
Callum lingers close, his smug grin tugging at his lips, but Elias’s low voice cuts through before I can summon a retort.
“You know,” he says, stepping forward into view. “For all your recklessness…I respect it. Doing this alone. Most people wouldn’t have the guts.”
I blink, the compliment hitting harder than I expect. Of all the things I thought Elias would throw at me, this wasn’t one of them.
Heat creeps up the back of my neck, not from his words alone, but from the sincerity threading through his tone. He looks at me differently now, like I’m not just some spoiled girl crashing into their night, but someone who fought for a chance.
“I…” My throat tightens as I blink a few times, letting my eyes fall to the ground. “I didn’t think I’d have the guts, honestly. It was a split-second decision when I accepted the truth that I haven’t been living my life for me.”
The words hang heavy, weighty with the truth I’ve been choking on for weeks.
The rigid set of Elias’s broad shoulders seem to loosen for the first time since I met him, rolling forward slightly. “Then maybe you understand more than I gave you credit for.”
His words still echo in my head when Callum crosses his arms against his chest, his grin tempered for now.
“Hold up,” he says, voice low but laced with sudden concern. “When you say you’re doing this alone and they didn’t want you in this city…does that mean you don’t have anyone here? No family? No place to stay tonight?”
The directness of the question makes my chest tighten. I glance at him, surprised at the way his blue eyes search mine with something dangerously close to worry.
No, no, no. Remember the bright red flags from earlier, Briar?
