Page 34 of Vexatious Queen

“We agreed to be in this relationship, and we enjoy it. Can you really look me in the eyes and tell me that you don’t care if he’s fucking a different sweetbutt every night that he’s not with you? Can you say you haven’t lied in bed wondering what shady shit he’s up to?”

“I repeat, those in glass houses. Besides, our family was built on shady shit. You’re so quick to judge Drew when you’ve had what…three very limited conversations.”

“I don’t need to talk to him. I can fucking see it with my eyes. Jesus, Nora, you know that I have a sixth sense about people. I see what others don’t, and I’m telling you right now that if you don’t think he’s fucking around on you behind your back…you’re…well, you’re blind.”

Her jaw ticked as she ground her teeth together.

“Fuck you, Liam. Fuck you,” she growled and marched off.

“Fuck.”

Determined not to spill my drink, I stomped up to the VIP section and flopped down beside Ren on the couch. What I wouldn’t give for a fucking cigarette right now, but I was actually trying to quit this time. It was ironic, considering that swim was over, but it didn’t matter since I didn’t have shit on me.

“What is going on with you and Nora,” Ren asked.

“That guy she’s dating, the biker, he’s no good, but she refuses to see it,” I grumbled and took a sip of my drink.

Ren shifted on the couch and rested her arm along the back as she looked at me. Her silvery eyes felt like they were piercing the side of my face.

“I know what you’re going to say,” I growled.

“What’s that?”

“That I shouldn’t cast stones when we have a complicated relationship. Nora said the same, and I get it, but this is different.” I looked at Ren, and she shook her head.

“Not what I was going to say, but we’ll come back to that. Have you considered that Nora’s resistance to you telling her about Merlin has nothing to do with the message, but how you deliver it?”

“What do you mean?”

“Liam…the whole reason Nora is not speaking to your father is that he tried to tell her who she should love and who she should marry. He was trying to control her, but Nora is a strong, independent woman. Now here you are, trying to do the very same thing. Another male member of her family is telling her who she should or shouldn’t be with.”

I slumped back on the couch, hating that I was so close to the situation that I couldn’t pick out the obvious.

“You’re right, but we’ve always been able to talk openly, even when we couldn’t talk to our parents.”

Ren ran her fingers along the back of my neck, calming me as she drew small circles.

“Shit, I’ve been attacking this all wrong,” I said. “I’ll find another way.”

“Or…you can let her make her own mistakes and choices even if you don’t like them. I know it’s a novel thought, but you don’t need to save Nora.”

I sipped my drink and watched my sister work. She’d always been strong-willed, intelligent, and resourceful. Maybe Ren was right, and I should just stay out of it. A guy like Merlin couldn’t hide who he was forever.

Deciding to drop the topic for now, I nodded toward the very awkward trio talking near the windows.

“Tell me something…does Sabastian know that Ivy and Zigzag are a thing?”

Ren’s fingers stilled.

“They aren’t,” she said a little too quickly.

I slowly turned my head to stare at her, and she rolled her eyes.

“They aren’t a thing. But something, and it’s not my place to say, happened. I’m trying to stay out of it because it is none of my business.”

Ren was a clever little minx. I leaned in and kissed her softly, loving how she blossomed at my touch and invited me to take more.

“I see what you did there,” I said, teasingly as I ran my hand up Ren’s leg until she gasped.