I did not know what to do with Bliss looking at me like she had finally reached the edge of defending my damage.
And maybe that was Cade too. Maybe she had spent so long loving a man who understood Easton’s pain that she had finally decided mine no longer excused anything.
“Ask her,” Easton said, breathing hard and staring at me over Cade’s shoulder. “Ask her why she cares.”
“Easton,” Cade warned.
“No.” Easton shoved Cade’s hand from his chest, not hard enough to hurt him but hard enough to remind everyone he wasn’t finished. “She wanted a reaction. She got one.”
Bliss pulled on my arm. “Aura, come on.”
I couldn’t move.
Easton stepped around Cade, and Briggs caught him before he made it more than half a step. “Don’t.”
Easton shook him off enough to keep his eyes on me. “Why do I need to remain single for your fucking ego?”
The words ripped through the kitchen and into the silent living room beyond it.
My breath left me.
“Tell me,” he said. “Why do I have to stand in a corner untouched so you don’t have to watch me survive losing you? Why does Brinley touching my chest make you look like you want to burn the house down, but Gage’s hands on you are supposed to be fair?”
“Easton,” Bliss cried.
He heard her. Guilt flashed across his face, but it could not get through the rest of him.
“You didn’t want me,” he said, his voice breaking around the words. “You made damn sure I knew that. So why do I have to stay alone? Why do I need to stay loyal to you when you never once gave it to me in return?”
I opened my mouth, but the words stayed trapped behind my ribs.
My silence was somehow worse than anything I could have said.
His face twisted, and for half a second, I saw what my silence had done to him over and over again.
Then the cold returned.
“No answer?” he asked. “Still?”
“Stop,” I said, but my voice shook.
His laugh was ugly and hollow. “Right. That tracks.”
Ryan grabbed him with both hands. “You’re done.”
“I asked her a question.”
“And I told you to shut the fuck up,” Ryan said, stepping fully between us. “You’re done.”
Easton looked at Ryan like he might swing, but Ryan didn’t move. He didn’t look angry.
He looked ready, which was worse.
Briggs pressed an arm across Easton’s chest while Rider kept one hand locked around his shoulder. Easton didn’t use his fists, but he fought them with every breath, all forwardmomentum, fury, and heartbreak that had stopped caring who watched it humiliate itself.
His eyes never left mine.
“You are the cruel one, Clarke!” he roared, his voice cutting through the entire house. “You need me alone and miserable so you can pretend you didn’t make me this!”
