A blind man can tell how much pain she’s in, yet she isn’t looking to anyone for help. She’s attempting to slip to the background, hoping no one pays her any attention so she can lick her wounds in peace. I get why she does it, and the look of understanding on Charlie’s face tells me she does too.
But she’s never needed to suffer through everything alone. I would have done anything for her if she just asked—if she stopped pushing me away for one damn minute, she’d know that. But no, she goes around touching other men and framing me for an explosion I’m embarrassed to have associated with my name.
Lithium batteries, a blowtorch, and paper?Please. I could have done that in second grade—points for trying and all, but I expected better fires from her.
Five steps are the only slice of freedom and self-indulgent stubbornness she gets to have before she’s off her feet and in my arms. I’m practically vibrating with barely restrained rage as I fold her body against my chest and scowl at the injured foot. Her knee-high socks are in the way of me checking for any visible bruising around her ankles.
“Put me down, maniac,” she grits out as I carry her down the bleachers.
If she weren’t glued to me, I’d be storming to the piece of shit that’s bleeding out, and I’d make it so there was nothing left of him for his family to mourn.
“Shut up, Thief. You’re hurt. I’m taking you to the sick bay.”And you stupidly wrapped your arms around my neck.There’s not a chance in hell I’m letting go now.
The hardening lines around her eyes do the opposite of convincing me of her anger since her reddening cheeks are paired with a hitch in her breath. “I’m fine.”
“And you weren’t limping before?” I adjust my hold on her, curving my arm up to graze the underside of her tits.See. She wouldn’t squeeze her legs together if my touch did nothing to her. If she wasn’t attracted to me, she’d recoil in disgust like she does with Elijah. Why does Blaze keep fighting this when her body is clearly into me?
She clears her throat and raises her head in defiance. “Even if my leg were broken, I wouldn’t need your help.” Her eyes narrow on Elijah as we pass the congregating crowd—the same crowd who hasn’t batted an eye at the woman in my arms. “I’m not a damsel in distress, so you can take your attention somewhere else.”
I cock an eyebrow at her, noticing how, for the first time, she doesn't make my attention sound like a curse. “Are you in distress?”
“No,” she says too sharply for it to sound like she’s convincing anyone but herself. “Never.”
“Great.” I turn and push the doors open with my back. “Then you aren’t a damsel in distress. Glad we have that cleared up.”
She snorts and makes a half-assed attempt at fighting me off. “Save the hero complex for Kiervan. It’s not the right look on you. If he were the one carrying me right now, maybe this would feel less like a trap.”
My grip tightens around her, and I stop in my tracks. Everyone always likes my brother better. But I don’t care about everyone; I only care if she likes me.
“Fine. Let’s call him.” I drop her onto her good leg and step far enough away that she can still reach for me for balance, but she opts for the wall instead, wincing as she does. “But don’t come running tome when he sends you to the ER with a broken jaw.”
If she wants Kiervan, then he can have her. I’m fucking sick of this. Enough people have been telling me I’m less than him, and I’m not going to sit around listening to her do the same after I spent a lifetime trying to prove my worth to her. There’s only so much I’m willing to take, and after over ten years of this shit, I would say my patience is well and truly done for. Maybe.
Surprise turns into unease. “I don’t believe you.”
My jaw twitches. “Rich, coming from you. Especially when it’s the same thing he told the three girls he paid off after he sent them to hospital.”
Her chest heaves with her staggering breaths. “This isn’t something to lie about, Kohen.”
I shrug even though I want to check that her pulse is still thrumming, and there’s still fire in her ready to burn. “If you don’t want to believe me, then that’s on you. I won’t sit here and lay down the details of why Kiervan is the worst monster of them all. So I will say this one thing, and if you want to get down on your knees for another Osman, don’t be surprised if I don’t show up at your funeral. When dissecting animals stopped doing it for him, he thought beating women was the next best alternative.”
Squeezing my fingers together, I fight the urge to pace or start a fire that will make what she did look like child’s play. I don’t add that I’d be in the grave next to her right after I murder my only brother. I’d never let him near her. I’d never let her nearanyone. It’s me or no one—heror nothing.
“Why are you telling me this?” Blaze asks, voice low.
I inch closer just so her scent can get into my head and fuel the beast that’s been starving for her since the first day I met her on theplayground, decking a kid two years older than her for calling her a carrot. I knew then that I was happy to burn if it was because of her.
“You want Duke. You want Elijah. You want Kiervan,” I explain slowly. “You wanted a man who didn’t confess to being your alibi. You wanted a man who pushed you down the bleachers. You want all the men who will kill you.”
She eyes my curled fists warily. “And what are you?”
“The man you’ve never wanted, but the one who has, and will always take the fall for you.”
I don’t know if there’s a medical condition that could diagnose the gymnastics my brain is doing right now. Because firstly, what the fuck?
Secondly,seriously, what the fuck? I’m going to have to punch a wall or something to stop myself from blushing.
The man I framed for arson grazed my tit and carried me a whole fifteen minutes to the med bay because I have a sore foot, and here I am, avoiding eye contact because my heart is doing stupid little somersaults over the plainly chivalrous act.
