Bliss stopped beside me, and Charm stopped on my other side. No one said anything, which was impressive because silence between the three of us was usually either a medical emergency or a tactical choice.
Brinley’s fingers curled into the fabric of Easton’s hoodie. She said something near his ear, and he lowered his head enough to hear her.
It was only a tiny movement, but my stomach still dropped like I had missed a step in the dark.
Bliss’s hand brushed mine. “Aura.”
I smiled because too many people were watching for me to do anything else. “What?”
“Don’t react, please.”
The warning lit something ugly inside me.
Charm kept her eyes on Easton and Brinley, but her voice came out soft and too careful. “She’s right.”
I turned toward her, and the softness in her face only made it worse. Charm looked tired. Maybe not tired of me, but tired of the way I kept bleeding on people and acting like it was glitter.
“Wow,” I said. “Two votes against fun before I’ve even had a drink.”
Bliss shifted slightly in front of me, all small body, huge nerve, and engagement rings flashing beneath the neon when she lifted her hands. “This isn’t fun.”
“Oh, so him letting puck bunnies crawl all over him while treating me like a disease for seven months is fun and totally fine, but me reacting is apparently where everyone finds morals.”
“That’s not what this is.”
“That’s exactly what this is.”
Charm touched my arm. “Baby, he’s trying to hurt you.”
I looked back toward the kitchen. Brinley was still there, still angled into him, still glowing like a woman who had no idea she was being used as a warning shot.
“Then he’s doing great,” I said.
Bliss’s expression pulled tight. She glanced toward Cade, who had just entered from the living room and was already watching Easton with his jaw locked. His eyes shifted to Bliss and then me, and I saw the choice pass between them.
She remained beside me, but some part of her loyalty now belonged to the man standing across the room, protecting Easton with his stare.
Bliss was fucking fence-riding.
That hurt more than I expected.
Charm’s fingers tightened around my wrist. “Please don’t pick a fight tonight just to hurt him back.”
I laughed, and it sounded pretty enough to make the lie worse. “You say that like Gage won’t enjoy the experience.”
Charm closed her eyes for half a second as my meaning settled. “Aura.”
There it was, not in her words but in the way her shoulders dipped.
She was tired of watching me turn pain into performance. Tired of knowing the viciousness between Easton and me might stop if I came clean about my rape. Tired of me demanding that everyone understand me without handing them the truth of why they should.
And Charm had spent enough time listening to Ryan defend Easton’s hurt that I could practically hear his balanced bullshit beneath her voice.
Across the kitchen, Ryan leaned near the island with a beer in one hand and his eyes on Charm, though he looked away the instant she glanced over.
Fast. Too fast.
Charm noticed anyway because she noticed everything beneath all that softness and lip gloss. Her expression didn’t change, but the hand around my wrist loosened for one beat.
