“I’m taking my break.”
“Shit,” I hear Jax say.
But Nick doesn’t speak.
I slam my hands on the swinging kitchen door, ignoring Chester in the kitchen as he says something about table five’s food. The door smacks into the person coming in behind me, but I’m already at the exit. Cold air hits me the moment I step outside. I’m instantly freezing, wishing like hell I’d grabbed my jacket. Still, right now, I’m so pissed that my anger might be enough to keep me warm.
“What in the FUCK!” I shout upon seeing Nick and Jax come through the door behind me. “What the fuck—Iknewit! I fucking—Oh my god, I knew you two weren’t real!”
“We’re very real,” Jax counters.
“Who the hell was that? Was that theerrandyou’ve been taking care of?” I almost shout at Nick.
Except Nick still hasn’t said anything. He hasn’t tried to open his mouth, hasn’t reached out or offered up any more than a painful expression.
I glare at him, chest heaving. “Saysomething, Nick—or which is it?Blaze? North?”
“North would be me,” Jax says. “Give us a minute. We’ll explain. Brother, do you have anything you’d like to?—”
“No, he doesn’t have anything to say, does he? He’s been lying to me since we met,” I say, and my heart hurts so fucking bad that I think I might collapse.
“I’ve never lied to you,” Nick—Blaze—says softly.
“No? Let’s start with your name,” I snap.
Blaze’s jaw ticks.
“And what about everything you told me? Your three-legged cat. The woman you lost?—”
“None of that was a lie,” he says. “How I feel about you isn’t a lie.”
“How the hell do I trust that? Fromeitherof you,” I say, looking at North.
“Because if we weren’t in love with you, we would be gone,” Blaze blurts.
My shoulders sink, heart thumping out of my chest. “Don’t…”
Blaze tries to come closer, and I step out of his reach.
“IfIwasn’t in love with you, Juniper, North wouldn’t even be here,” he adds.
“Don’t do that,” I whisper.
Still, he goes on.
“If I wasn’t sure that this, what we have together, was worth all of this, if I wasn’t sure that we were all meant to be, I wouldn’t be standing here begging you to see us. And tonight…”
His voice trails, and North steps closer.
“One look at that bastard in the bar should have us running back to the Nether Realm to tell them we made a mistake. But we’re not going anywhere,” North says.
I huff, nostrils flaring as my insides empty. I’m trying really hard to ignore the first part of his claim, desperate not to see that truth in Blaze’s eyes.
“Who was he?” I ask, voice hoarse.
“A merciless piece of shit without a brain,” North mutters.
“Not your friend,” Blaze says.
