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“Go back to the party,” I tell her, dismissing her before I’m tempted to steal a kiss.
I can’t do it because I won’t be able to stop myself. I need to talk to the guys. I need to sit down and plan what we’re going to do about her. She’s not someone who we chose. She’s been thrust upon us, and we need to decide how to handle her. She has to become part of our dynamic, and we all have to be in agreement as to how that will work.
Brielle smiles as she lowers her gaze and looks down at the ground by our feet. The grassy cliff edge is dark, even though I know it’s a lush green in the daylight.
“I thought for a while you were an angry, cold-hearted arsehole,” Brielle says, causing me to lift my gaze to hers. “But you’re not.”
“Oh, trust me, princess,” I inform her as I take a step towards her. “I am angry, and I’ll always be cold-hearted, there’s no doubt about that, and you should never second guess it.”
“Noted,” Brielle responds, but the smile on her face tells me there’s more she’d like to add. “I’ll go back to the party, but this conversation isn’t over,” she says as she turns and walks away.
As the words leave her lips, I want nothing more than to bend her over, right here and now, and spank her pert little arse. But I refrain, for now. She may think she’s in charge, but that’s far from the truth.
Once I’m alone with my thoughts, I consider what this all means. It’s a breakthrough. I didn’t expect her to take a chance and open up to me about her thoughts.
“Are you two finally being civil?” Kai saunters up behind me with a smirk on his face.
“I don’t know,” I tell him honestly.
Even though I want nothing more than for all this suspicion to be over, for the trust to grow, I still don’t know if it’s possible. It may never be. But then again, perhaps that’s just me focusing on the wrong things. Both Kai and Val have accepted her. And to be fair, she hasn’t told anyone about the secret we confessed to her, which she could have done.
“The thing is, unless you let her in, we’ll never learn the truth about her and what she believes,” Kai tells me as he kicks at the ground. “She’s a good fighter. She’s worth having on our side.”
I know they’ve trained with her. I sent her that photo to distract her because I thought she’d still be reeling from our little chat on the cliff edge. But it seems she wasn’t as perturbed as I thought she’d be.
I’ll have to rectify that.
I’m done with this party. My focus isn’t on anything it should be, and it doesn’t sit well with me.
“I”m going home,” I announce to Kai, surprising him.
The others can get home without me, so there’s no need for me to stick around.
“What about—?”
“You can watch her. I’m just not in the mood for this bullshit tonight,” I tell him before I turn and head back into the crowds to where my car is parked.
I can feel Kai’s presence behind me, and I wonder just what he’s thinking. He’s never seen me this bothered by a woman before, and neither has Valen.
This is new territory for all of us.
But then again, I never had a fiancée before, which makes matters worse.
“I’m leaving,” I tell Valen who’s standing beside Brielle.
“Can I come with you?” she asks, her eyes lit up by the headlights of the cars as they pull in close to where we’re standing.
I can’t have her in the house alone with me, but I also can’t refuse her. After our earlier talk, I owe her the civility of being a gentleman.
“Sure.” I nod and turn away before I get an earful from Kai.
He knows this is the last thing I wanted, or needed, but there’s nothing I can do to stop it.
In the car, I don’t speak to her, I don’t even bother looking her way. I can’t. Confusion settles in my gut like a lead weight, and I’m not sure how the fuck to handle this. I’m going to have to sit down with the guys tomorrow. I can’t go on like this, hiding from her while in my own home, on my own fucking island. Enough is enough.
When I finally pull into the grounds of the mansion, she says, “Thank you, Judah.”
My name on her lips is the sweetest thing I’ve ever fucking heard, and I want to steal the words from her mouth.
