Page 117 of Merciless

“Yes,” I snap. “She’ll choose me.”

That’s a lie, and I know it. She wouldn’t choose me. Not when she’s dating him. She’s already made the choice, and I’m left on the sidelines.

Elijah’s eyebrow rises. “What if she chooses both of us?”

“She won’t.”

He shakes his head, tsking. “You’ve obsessed over her for a long time, and yet you don’t know her that well, do you?”

I fist his shirt in the middle of his chest and shove him backward. Insults stick to the tip of my tongue. Awful things that I can say to cut him deep, but I swallow them, because I know I can’t take them back.

“Don’t make her choose, Asher.” Elijah’s lips curve into a smile. Sharp. Cutting. Condescending. “Do you want her happy?”

“Of course I want her happy,” I growl.

“Then remove your feelings for just a fucking moment.”

I glare at him.

“I care about her too,” he says, softly. Then he winces as if he realizes what he’s just said. “What if I can prove that she wants both of us? Would you share her then?”

My fingers cinch his shirt until my knuckles turn white. “What if she doesn’t want me?”

Sympathy softens his features. “Is that what you’re afraid of?”

“She wants you, Elijah.” Red bleeds into my vision. “She doesn’t want me. She sees you.”

“She sees both of us.”

“We’re identical.”

“But we’re so different from each other, aren’t we?”

My teeth clench together, and I breathe through the anger tightening my chest. Beneath it all, I’m hurt and lashing out.

Elijah circles my wrist with his fingers, but he doesn’t peel my hand away from him. “If you’re okay with sharing her, I can prove that she wants you too.”

I search his gaze for any sign that he’s messing with me. He wouldn’t dangle her in front of my face and yank her away last minute. I know my brother enough to believe he wouldn’t be so cruel and merciless toward me.

“You would share her with me?” I swallow hard.

“Only with you.”

“No one else.” I let go of his shirt and step back.

He nods once.

“And you’ll prove that she wants me?” I already know my little ghost gets turned on by me, but I need confirmation she wants to be with me, and not temporarily.

I want her forever. Her eternity.

Elijah’s blinding smile stretches across his face. “Yes, I can.”

CHAPTER 41

EDEN

NIGHT 6 OF THE BET