“So she blackmailed you?” I ask numbly. Gray nods next to me.
“We didn’t know what to do, Sienna. It wasn’t just about us. It was the effect those photos could have on our pack. On Tristan, and Jax. So we made the call to play along, and hope that we’d work out something to fix it along the way.”
There’s something churning in my chest, and I don’t quite know what it is.
“What did she want?” I ask. I can’t look at them, my eyes still focused on the blank wall opposite.
I feel them both hesitate, and I swallow. “The truth, please.”
“She wanted us to Deny you,” Logan says quietly. “I’m so sorry, Sienna.”
My eyes slide closed.
All of this. All because ofher.
I wet my lips. “I’d like to be alone now, please.”
They take a moment before they release my hands. Logan turns to me as Gray clambers up.
“We mean it,” he says softly. “We do want you, Sienna. And Gray and I… we have some things to work out. But if it’s a deal breaker for you—,”
I see Gray’s face before a mask descends, icy calm covering up the agony that flashed across his face before he hides it away.
I shake my head rapidly. “That’s not a problem to me. You being together. But everything else, I just… I need some time to process.”
Gray’s jaw locks up as he stares at me. “I thought…,”
“You thought I’d hate you?” I say softly. “Then you really don’t know me at all, Gray. You never gave me a chance to show you otherwise.”
My point hits home, and he looks down.
“We’ll give you some time,” Logan says. Fingers nudge my chin, and I turn to him in surprise. “But we’ve got a lot of making up to do, and we’ve wasted enough time thanks to our decisions.”
I clear my throat. “Speaking of decisions… I’ve decided. About my heat.”
Both of them freeze, and I look down, picking at a loose thread on my jeans. “I’m not ready,” I admit quietly. “Not when things are like this. I know we might not have a choice… but I’d like to look at options.”
Logan swallows. “We’ll work something out. I promise, Sienna. You won’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with.”
Because my time here so far has been so comfortable. Like a luxury resort. I can’t stop the sarcastic snort from slipping out.
As they move towards the door, I call out. “Is that it?”
Gray turns back to me, eyebrows bunched. “It?”
I eye them suspiciously, my stomach churning. “Is that everything? No more secrets?”
They look at each other, and the dread solidifies. What else can there fucking be?
“Nothing,” Logan says finally. He clears his throat, and Gray shakes his head slowly.
“That’s everything.” His voice is hoarse.
Nodding, I curl back up and tug my blanket over me in a silent dismissal.
When I’m alone with my own thoughts, I turn over their words inside my head, replaying every interaction from the first time I watched them all walk towards me at the Bonding Ceremony. The difference in Jax, the way he changed from meeting at the club to then.
Everything I thought was off, that didn’t feel quite right, makes sense now.
