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4
MADDIE
I suckin a breath at her casual mention of killing someone. The tension around us thickens and I swallow against the rising tide of nerves sparking.
Even though he’s staring at her, his attention is on me. It feels nearly tangible, warm and thick like fresh honey. It’s not oppressive but protective. It's a contradictory thing to think, I know. But I don't know any other way to describe it.
A shiver skates along my skin as the silence stretches, and the hair on my arms rises in an automatic response. I don’t know how to ease it or what to say to break it, so I keep my lips sealed and slide my hand over his, weaving my fingers through his, so we’re both clutching my hip. I tighten my grip on his hand, flexing my fingers and wiggling them impossibly closer.
If I wasn’t pressed so closely to him, I would miss it. The tell that acknowledges my touch, my feeble attempt at comfort. His shoulders sag the barest centimeter, losing a little bit of his earlier tension.
He nods once, a small shift is all the acknowledgment he offers her. “We'll meet you at the airstrip. Don't follow behind us.”
She laughs, though laugh doesn’t feel like quite the right word for the noise leaving her perfect pout. It's more like a condescending taunt than anything joyous. “Please, you're talking to a professional here. Something I mistakenly thought you were.”
Aries shifts, energy thrumming in his coiled muscles, a subtle readjustment of his stance. I follow my gut instinct and slip to the side, untangling his hand from my hip and lacing our fingers together. In my peripheral vision, I see his chest swell, so I turn to face him fully. Nerves spark in my gut as I bite the inside of my cheek. It feels like we’re at a disadvantage here. We need her help—a favor, Aries called it—and the sooner we get to Leo, the better.
The air feels thin as the mood shifts yet again. Somehow he looks impossibly taller, broader—and angrier. “You'd be foolish to think that me cashing in a favor right now is a weakness.”
Fiona smirks as she crosses her arms tightly across her chest. “Whatever you say, Rafe Rhodes. I'll meet you at Evergreen helipad in thirty minutes. Don't be late.” Without waiting for a reply, she spins on her red-soled heels and struts down the long corridor. She turns right at the end of the hallway, and a moment later, she’s out of sight.
Still, we remain frozen. I've never really understood the phrase I can see the gears turning inside your mind until right this moment. I’d be willing to bet that if I had X-Ray vision, I would see all the many thoughts spiraling into one another, twisting together to form plans and secondary plans.
I wait another ten seconds before I break the silence.
“What now?” My voice is soft, quiet even, but the way Aries reacts, it might as well have been fireworks going off in the hallway.
He cuts me a look, his clenched jaw and hard brow relaxing as soon as his gaze lands on mine. “Now we leave.”
“Can we trust her?”
“Trust is a gift not given to many.” He reaches up with his free hand and runs his thumb along my bottom lip, his gaze zeroed-in on the path it takes.
“And me? Do you trust me?”
The air grows thin once again, though for an entirely different reason. Here, in the middle of all the chaos, my traitorous heart slams against my ribs at the feel of his fingertips on my skin. My lips part without thought as he leans in, his fingers sliding underneath my jaw to tip my chin toward him. He ghosts his lips across mine with the barest touch.
“I think the better question, Raven, is: Do you trust me?”
“Yes.” The word is past my lips before he even finishes talking.
“It’s more than I deserve,” he murmurs as his gaze floats across my skin, almost memorizing it.
I strain toward him, pushing onto my tiptoes and chasing his lips as he stands to his full height. My heart slams against my ribs as he holds my gaze for another few seconds, just out of reach. In the midst of all the chaos, something else is happening between us.
Something that further entwines us, beyond what our crossed paths offered. Something more than simple lust.
Shame licks the bottom of my spine, threatening to drown me in its inky depths for finding a moment of connectedness while Leo’s being—I don’t even begin to know what Leo’s going through, but I can only imagine how bad it is. My mind immediately conjures up the worst situations, cursing my sister’s love for true crime shows.
Light pressure under my chin has my attention snapping back toward him. I don’t even remember pulling my gaze over his shoulder. “Hey, stay with me, yeah?”
I clear my throat. “I’m here.”
His gaze ping-pongs between my eyes. After a few moments, he lets his hand drop and murmurs, “Good. Time to go.”
“Wait.” I clutch his hand. “Can we trust her?”
“The Kings live by a . . . specific code, one they hold strong to. She won’t go out of her way to help us unless I call in a favor, but she won’t betray us either. For now, our interests align.” He cradles the side of my face in his palm, his thumb brushing underneath my eye in a quick, soft swish.
