49 #2
For fuck’s sake, I projected that outwards through the bond. What the hell is wrong with me this—
Wait. What fucking time is it? With no windows, it is impossible to gauge even a vague idea, and I do not know why it took me so long to be alarmed by the fact when I already recognised my lack of awareness earlier.
“Time?” I demand.
“You’ve been out for hours, Love. It’s almost dinner ti—”
Panic consumes me.
“What?! What is the exact time?!”
Cooper quickly picks up one of their tablets from the bedside table with an apprehensive look on his face. “Five to seven. Why, Vengeance? What’s wrong?”
All the air evacuates the room, and I lunge to get off the bed.
But Cooper catches me and fucking pins me back down, straddling me with his hands like vices on the wrists he pins either side of my head
“GET OFF!” I scream, incensed, knowing realistically I can break his hold effortlessly but not thinking clearly through the terror as I thrash about like a madwoman.
I am never late for dinner.
I cannot be late to dinner.
Never, never, never, never, never . . .
“LET ME UP! LET GO! I WILL KILL YOU!”
“NO! I WON’T, VENGEANCE—”
“GET OFF MY HAVOC, YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT—”
“Cooper, maybe it’s best if you listen—”
Tate slams into Cooper, and they go crashing to the hard taalk floor after rolling across the entire width of the bed.
I do not waste a second, springing over them and to the door.
“Ezla, Love! Wait—”
Arms band around me tightly, and I stab my elbow back.
But the pained sound that greets me as it connects brutally is not Scotty’s.
Alby’s choked intake of breath . . . I do not like it.
I swivel around in an instant. This is not the same as training, and the others can take it, but he . . . and I just . . .
My wild eyes dart up to his, and I am sure I look completely unhinged right now.
But my shy boy does not back away.
My shy boy.
Something pinches in my chest.
Covering his wince from the blow, Alby hesitantly reaches out for me again from where his hands had come to rest over his stomach. “Please don’t go. Please don’t leave us, Ezla. Please don’t leave me.”
Something in me wounds tight then. Like I might . . . like there is something hot and wet trying to escape my eyes.
I blink the sensation back.
The room has fallen into a deathly silence. Tiger and Scotty have managed to break apart Cooper and Tate, and now they are all stood there, staring at me.
Swallowing to regain my composure, I tense my jaw. “Do not. Make. Me. Stay.” The words are gritted out with acrimony coating them, and yet it sounds to my own ears as if I am begging for the opposite.
Do not let me leave. Do not let me go to him.
But I do not beg. And I never will.
“Don’t. Go.” Alby’s reply is said with surprising vigour, voice a little rougher than usual.
And then he throws his arms around me.
Clutching on to me desperately, he rests his cheek on the top of my head, and I can only stand here stiffly, tucked into him, while he shakes like a leaf, his heart pitter-pattering against me like a bird trying to break free of its cage. “Stay,” he rasps. “Please. I . . . I love you.”
My spine is ramrod straight again where it quite possibly had relaxed, if only fractionally.
“No—” He holds on to me tighter when he feels me shifting away. “P-please. I-I do—I love you. Y-you can feel it—and now I’m telling you. Please don’t take that from me.”
I swallow hard, not appreciating the uncomfortable twist inside of me.
“I love you,” he repeats once more, resolution spilling into his tone, fingers digging into my back. “And I—I want to be able to love all of you. But I can’t do that if you don’t share all of you . . .”
That is the most I have ever heard him speak at once.
“I do not want anyone’s love. Love is bad.”
Fuck. That last part was not meant to slip out.
And they all latch onto it like a missile locking onto its target.
“What was that?” Cooper says lowly, stepping forwards. “What did you say, Vengeance?”
I do not like his tone, as if he has figured out something he should not have and is only looking for confirmation on his suspicions.
Alby pulls back but takes my hand in his clammy one, a nervous yet determined look on his flushed face.
“Please can you come and sit down? And . . . and we can just talk. About you?” At the way my nose wrinkles with distaste, he rushes on, “It can be anything! It doesn’t have to be anything .
. . anything difficult. Just things we don’t know. ”
“I disagree,” Cooper says bluntly, eyes narrowed on me.
I can admire him not wasting my time with lies, no matter how rude he is being.
“Careful how you speak to my Havoc, shithead,” the big guy rumbles darkly, the muscles in his robust arms bulging as his fists clench, and a small shiver crawls through me.
Hmmm . . . I did like that.
You know what they say—violence is a girl’s best friend.
Cooper’s jaw works. “Ezla, I’m not trying to be a fucking asshole, okay?” Yes—I understand that comes naturally. “I’m just— I care about you, and you’re in fucking agony all the time, even when you act like you’re untouchable.”
“I am untouchable.”
An enraged growl and he jabs a finger at me. I will bite it off. “See, this is the problem here!”
“There is no problem other than your anger issues.”
His mouth snaps shut and he glowers, but smartly attempts to even his tone.
“Please, get back on the bed. I’d just like to be close to you and know you’re okay.
” He heads over himself and sits on the edge of the mattress, patting the spot beside him.
Scotty, Tate, and Tiger also walk over, the wild one plopping himself down with a bounce, a smile, and an enthusiastic thumbs-up aimed my way.
Tate stands with his bulky arms crossed over that firm chest of his like a sentinel, and Scotty decides to be his twin opposite him and by Cooper so that the spot they have left for me will cocoon me in.
Folding my own arms over my chest, I scowl as I debate my options: go to my father now and explain why I am late for dinner for the first time since I made that particular mistake when I was thirteen and endure a beating and rape, or stay here, have a little chit-chat with my— these men, maybe even receive a massage if I decide to, I am sure, and then return to the Techtis Council building to enjoy said beating and rape.
Hmmm . . . decisions, decisions . . .
Alby gently tugs on my hand with a shy smile.
“Fine,” I snap, ensuring they see I am ready to kill if they push too far while I graciously allow my shy boy to lead me to the bed, brushing off the relief and happiness that permeates the air the second the word leaves my mouth.
Flicking my hair over my shoulder, I let go of Alby’s hand and find my place beside Cooper, shuffling back a bit to get comfy, sitting with my legs criss-crossed. Then my chin lifts.
Their eyes all bore into me.
A few blinks.
“What?”
“Nothing,” Cooper mutters, a hand reaching up to scratch absently at the stubble he has grown and maintained over the weeks, which is possibly a tad sexy—not that I care—and I send daggers his way.
“You’re sat so adorably!” Tiger provides with a squealing pitch to his voice and places his hands on my shoulders from behind, forcing me stiff as a board once more. He immediately snatches them back. “Sorry, Ezzy!”
“I am not adorable.”
“Of course not,” Scotty reassures, but reading his thoughts and emotions tells me he is no better than his brother.
I fight back a growl, trying to maintain my cool composure.
“Okay, let’s get back on track.” Cooper hesitates before trying his luck and placing his own hand on my shoulder next like I am a wild animal, and I have the strangest urge to snap my teeth at him to prove him right.
So I do.
He yelps, darting backwards and almost falling off the bed.
And something odd bubbles up my throat.
I cackle like a supervillain.
Oh, wow. I cannot remember the last time I made this sound, if I ever even have, or a time I have felt like this. There is pure glee and amusement in me at the look that had overcome the grump’s face when he had actually thought I would bite him. Hilarious.
When I regain control of myself, five men gape at me, slack-jawed and wide-eyed.
My expression hardens at once. “Stop looking at me like that,” I hiss, flashing my teeth in hopes of getting more of those delightful reactions from Cooper.
And he smiles. Smiles at my damn threat.
“Cooper, I will annihilate you. I will cut off your dick, chop it up like a cucumber, then feed it to you in a sandwich—”
He sucks in a sharp breath, looking at me almost as starry-eyed as Tiger does every moment of every day. “Cooper?” He is obviously trying to hide the smugness in his tone and expression.
I do not know why he bothered. The attempt was truly disgraceful.
“Would you prefer ‘Player 17’?” I threaten darkly.
“No! Fuck no!” he spits out as if the idea alone is abhorrent. “‘Cooper’ is fine. It’s . . . it’s perfect, actually.” Great, and now he is attempting—and failing yet again—to hide a softer smile than the previous smirk.
“You have a beautiful laugh, Havoc,” Tate murmurs in his deep, rumbly voice, and I flick my gaze to him while sounds of agreement from the other Evots meet my ears.
“Hm.” I do not offer more than that as I study his pitch-black eyes, the grey only a thin ring around the pupils.
That one is always hard for me.
It does wonders for my ego.
And it annoyingly heats my blood up, too. These days, it is every. Damn. Time.
It makes my fingers twitch and itch for my Avri daggers.
“So, Vengeance? What’ve you got for us?” Then Cooper goes in for the kill, each word becoming more and more forceful: “The scar on your face. Explain what that’s about?
And what was that about love being bad, hm?
Better fucking yet, tell me why the actual fuck your thoughts just suggested you’d like to die? !”