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He grips me by the waist, his fingers digging into my side. “Why the fuck are you asking these questions? We already established that Ethan, or
anyone else, is off the fucking table. I wouldn’t share you for the rest of your life.”
“You mean your life?”
“Your life. Death won’t stop me, wild one. I’ll find a way, even as a ghost.”
“I have no doubt about that.” The masculine voice coming from our right pauses our conversation.
Instead of letting me go, Jonathan keeps me planted to his side with a possessive hand at the small of my back.
Ethan stands at the base of the stairs, placing a hand in his trousers’ suit pocket and smiling amicably. “Welcome to my Birmingham residence, Aurora. Jonathan, it’s been a long time since you’ve come here. More than twenty years, I believe.”
“Not long enough.”
I elbow him and whisper, “Play nice.”
“He’s looking at you, so that’s a no,” Jonathan says in a voice loud enough for Ethan to hear.
“Always a charmer, Jonathan.” Ethan smiles at him, but there’s no welcoming in it.
The latter returns it with a scowl.
The amount of testosterone around here is high as hell. I can almost taste it on my tongue.
“Where are Layla and her parents?” I ask to dissipate the tension.
“Mr and Mrs Hussaini went for a stroll, and as for Layla —”
Ethan’s words cut off when a door opens from the other side of the room, and in comes Layla carrying basket of roses, throwing the petals at a solemn-faced Agnus. He doesn’t seem to enjoy it in the least, but he remains silent as she grins. “I could totally turn you into a princess, Agnus. If anyone can do it, it’s me.”
Ethan laughs, and even Jonathan is about to smile before he seals his reaction, as usual. I’m beginning to see a pattern between Ethan and Jonathan. One is more open and the other is closed off. However, they have a lot of traits in common — the most important of all, their hunger for power. The more they have, the more they want. That’s why they clicked a long time ago.
Jonathan is just more forthcoming about it. Ethan doesn’t show it as much, but that doesn’t deny his desire for it.
Upon seeing me, Layla pushes the basket of roses at Agnus’s chest and runs towards me.
I open my arms and she hugs me without protest. “I missed you so much, mate. Don’t you dare leave me again.”
“I missed you, too, Lay.”
“Come on.” She grips me by the hand. “We have so much to catch up on.”
Ethan motions at the stairs and raises his brow at Jonathan. “My office?”
“Play nice,” I mouth at Jonathan.
“No,” he mouths back and I shake my head as Agnus abandons the basket of roses on a table and follows them.
With the three of them there, I can only imagine what will happen in that office. Definitely not something I want to witness.
Layla and I sit on a bench in the garden. The trees here are so tall, they block the horizon.
“So?” she asks impatiently. “Details.”
“Promise you won’t hate me?”
“Never. Ride or die, remember?”
