A stream of emotions deluges inside me at how badly I want to punch him for hugging me. I never know what he’s thinking, but when he speaks up and tells me what I’ve been craving to hear, I don’t know what to do.
His embrace makes my skin crawl.
The beat of my heart picks up the pace and I politely put some distance between us. My lungs constrict as tormenting images pop up before my eyes like a bad horror movie, turning my previous annoyance into dread and revolt.
I know I’m safe, and Brad can’t hurt me anymore after what Bellami did to him, but it doesn’t stop the terror from surging.
He may be my brother, but he filled my heart with hate and fear. These emotions have never been simple to erase and much less accept, no matter what he has sacrificed for me. No matter the blood he spilled when he put the pieces of the puzzle together and figured out the full picture.
We were born from the same womb, but the flowers of the same garden don’t always come from the same seed.
Blood isn’t thicker than the bonds you forge.
15
Aoi
Jason’s hands roam my back and slide over my shirt, kneading my skin through the fabric. My mind is a haze and all I can do is focus on the touch of his fingers grazing my neck.
I know it’s a bad idea to sleep with him, but all reason has left me. If he can make me feel less like I’m drowning, even for a second, then why push him away?
He’s a rotten monster that’s why.
But so am I.
“You trulyareher son,” he says, stroking the tender flesh under my eyes. “The same shade of blue as hers.”
My eyes. The last reminder of my mother. Yet he seems displeased every time he gazes at them as if he’d have preferred to forget their significance.
I know what he’ll say next even though I have always failed to understand his reasons.
“Smile for me, my dear.”
I have nothing to smile for and yet I indulge him.
Jason mirrors my gesture and presses a delicate peck on the bridge of my nose. “You have your father’s smile.”
“You say that often.”
“I mean it.”
“Why do you…”
He leans into me and brushes his lips over the sensitive spot under my jaw. “Yes?”
“Why do you always seem so irritated when you look me in the eyes?” My bottom lip wobbles and I clench my fists at my sides.
I finally asked him.
“What do you mean?” He unbuttons my shirt and trails kisses down my collarbone then leans away to take a better look at my pale skin and chest rising with every breath.
“It’s just that I don’t understand why you always look so annoyed when you look me in the eyes, but you like my smile.” I avert my gaze, not wanting to see his displeasure deepen from the inquiry. “Do you hate my eyes? Are they ugly to you?”
“Ugly?” he repeats, pressing a kiss on my fluttering eyelid. “Not at all.”
Then why does he look at me like that?
“Aoi,” he scowls.
