Page 142 of Merciless

He strides to the door and looks back at me. “Don’t ever fucking question our feelings for you.”

My jaw drops as the door slams shut behind him, leaving me a mess on the bed.

I drop my head against the pillow and stare up at the ceiling. My orgasm fades, leaving me in discomfort and unsatisfied. He punished me. I never expected Asher, the one who’s been obsessive over me, to punish me.

I don’t know what else he has in store for me, but I have a feeling it’ll involve a lot more edging.

CHAPTER 50

ASHER

The aviary door shuts behind me, closing Elijah and me in the same space as Rome. Elijah walks ahead, his strides leisurely, as if he owns the space he takes up, but I know better.

We’re both on edge, hoping the plan works.

I linger behind him, breaking to the side so I can take a different angle.

The same light-yellow cockatiel sits on Rome’s shoulder. She fluffs her feathers and extends her neck, as if she’s checking us out before chirping to alert Rome to our entrance.

The white-haired, two-faced asshole pops his head up, as if we caught him in the middle of something. He lowers the phone he was glued to. Like the last time I ran into him, a flash of annoyance creeps into his gaze before he locks it away and puts on a mask of friendliness.

“How can I help you two?” He straightens and tucks his phone inside his pocket.

“That’s the question.” Elijah stops a foot away from the desk. “Can you help us?”

Rome looks between us, his gaze lingering on me longer than normal, as if he’s remembering that night when he watched the Walker brothers beat the shit out of me.

He turns his focus to Elijah and folds his hands together on his lap. “Bird problems?”

Elijah grins. “You could say that.”

Rome purses his lips. “Does it have to do with a little birdie and this morning?”

“Yeah.” Elijah tilts his head. “I figured you could help us with this problem.”

Rome relaxes in his seat and looks between the two of us again, like he’s calculating how to leave and take us out in the process.

“I can’t really help with that,” he says. “My specialty is birds. Not gossip.”

I roll the sucker in my mouth and taste Eden through the sweetness. I stalk closer to the front desk and stand beside my brother.

“Strange,” I say. “You’re really good with gossip and secrets.”

Rome’s gaze cuts toward me, then narrows. There he is. The mask is gone, and he’s no longer pretending to be someone he’s not. “Are you threatening me?”

“Oh, no,” Elijah says with a chuckle. “Not yet, anyway. Let’s cut the bullshit. You’re good with technology, and we need you to wipe the video from everyone’s devices.”

The bird on Rome’s shoulders fluffs her feathers and chirps, as if the conversation is bothering her. Rome soothes her with a scratch at the top of her head, pursing his lips as he considers both of us.

“What will I get out of it?” he says.

Elijah scoffs. “We won’t air your dirty laundry.”

Rome snorts a laugh. “You want me to remove a secret or else you’ll expose another that isn’t yours? Make it make sense.” He shakes his head and looks up at the ceiling. “No, I need something more substantial.”

I roll the sucker in my mouth. “Are you sure about that? I can always tell the Walker brothers you’ve been going behind their backs.”

Rome drops his gaze to me and glares. “If they find out, there’ll be hell to pay. Not just by me, but you two as well.”