Aurelia shoves at my chest, but I don’t budge an inch. “It wasn’t your decision.”
“You’re my girl. I’ll protect you however the fuck I see fit.”
“I don’t need you to decide what’s best for me. Other people have been deciding things for me for far too fucking long. It’smyturn. I told you I wanted this. How many times do I haveto prove I want to stay? How deep do I have to cut myself open before you accept thatI want to bleed?”
“And when are you going to see that we don’t doubt that?” I shake my head. “Not anymore. You areowned, but we belong to you too.” Aurelia doesn’t quite meet my gaze as her own glazes over, and I can tell she’s overwhelmed. “The real issue,” I say low and with a narrowed gaze, “is that you still don’t know what that means.”
She throws out her arms in exasperation. “Tell me.”
“It means any one of us will fall on our sword for you without hesitation. Andwithoutapology.”
“You’re such a fucking asshole,” she grumbles without any real conviction.
“Yours,” I correct. Her eyes fly up to meet mine when I pinch and lift her chin. “I’m your asshole. I’m your veryloyalasshole, Aurelia. You’ll always come first.”
“I don’t want you sacrificing yourself for me, Khalil. I want us to work as a team.”
“I’ll try to keep that in mind,” I say as I run my hands down her sides. “Now come on. We gotta go.”
Aurelia looks curious when I take her hand and start walking toward the front door. “Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise.”
“Wait.” She tugs on my hand, and I glance over my shoulder when she stops walking. “I just need a few minutes. There’s something I have to do.” Before I can ask what, since she’s already dressed for the occasion, Aurelia turns and rushes downstairs to the basement.
EZEKIEL
Icurse Aurelia George’s name once more while fighting a yawn.
It’s because of her that I’m up before the sun.
It’s because of her that my brothers are so blind and obsessed.
It’s because of her that I can’t seem to keep my thoughts straight. It doesn’t matter if I’m near her or not. I can’t stop fucking thinking about her.
“Zeke, goddamn it. Will you take the fucking shot already?” Thorin whispers from where he’s lying next to me behind a fallen tree.
Forced out of my head, I watch the grazing doe through the sight of the rifle pointed downwind, but I can’t bring myself to pull the trigger. Not when my mind is still overrun with thoughts of her.
Spitting out a curse, I lower the rifle. “What the fuck for? It’s not like we need the food. We’re out here because ofher. What’s the point in pretending otherwise.”
Thorin cuts his gaze at me, and I feel the violence rolling off him before he shakes his head and stands with a growl. “Fuck this. I can’t deal with your shit right now. I’m going to go take a piss.”
Thorin vaults over the log, scaring off the doe and any chance at the game as he prowls away.
“Fuck you too,” I grumble. Turning, I rest my back against the tree and set the rifle down.
All right, so maybe he has a point, I admit after ten minutes roll around and then twenty and Thorin still doesn’t return.Maybe it isn’t fair of me to sabotage their twisted little romance when they gave up so much for me. It’s not even that I have a bad feeling about Aurelia. But that’s exactly why I don’t trust what I am feeling.
Isaac and Tatum’s betrayal took me completely by surprise, so I obviously can’t trust my judgment. I used to believe there wasn’t a purer soul on this earth than Tatum, and yet every time I look at Aurelia, I see a halo of gold around her head.
I sure as shit never saw one around Tatum.
It doesn’t make any sense. Tatum was cold, but she was polite, agreeable, soft-spoken, and never taunted anyone. Aurelia, on the other hand, is the complete opposite. She is spoiled, combative, temperamental, vain, and can stare right through like you aren’t even there. And yet her presence—hell, the mere thought of her—fills me with a warmth that lingers even when she isn’t around. That part of myself begs me to believe she would never do what Tatum did. That she would die before turning on Khalil and Thorin. Turning on Seth.
Turning onme.
And while I might have been wrong about a lot of people, I’ve never been wrong about my brothers. If Thorin and Khalil can trust her, put everything on the line for her, maybe I can too. It won’t be easy, but I owe it to them to at least starttrying.
