AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Didn’t seem to be. He just had this look on his face…” Wes’s eyes moved to Max.
“What look?” I demanded.
“The one Max sometimes gets.” Wes’s brown eyes met mine. “When he’s thinking abouthim.”
Max sucked in a quiet breath at the mention of the man we never spoke of by name. The man he referred to as his biologic.
Everything inside me went on alert, fear and anger competing, both trying to take over.
“Has anyone ever hurt him?” Wes asked.
“I’d fucking kill them,” I intoned, resolve making my voice cold. Fuck, just the thought of someone putting their hands on that blue-eyed angel made the sun I tried so hard to shine with turn black as coal.
Max had gone quiet, a thoughtful look on his face.
“What is it?” I asked, heart pounding.
He shook his head. “Nothing.”
“Max.”
“I said it's nothing,” he said, black eyes meeting mine.
It wasn’t nothing. It was something. Something he didn’t particularly want to say. My stare shifted to Wes.
“This is exactly what I’m talking about. You two act like I’m fragile and can’t handle anything. Newsflash, I can handle a hell of a lot more than you two idiots think!”
“Did you just call me an idiot?” I mused.
Max laughed.
“I’m serious,” Wes said, yanking away from Max.
“Nemo…”
“Don’t Nemo me,” he retorted.
“Look. I’m really appreciative of everything you both have done for me. The way you stepped up when Mom and Dad died. I know I’m lucky because it could have been way worse for me if you both weren’t there.”
“We’re always gonna be here, baby,” Max said, stepping toward him.
Wes held out his hand, stopping him. “I know. But enough is enough.” He paused, his voice lowering to add, “I’ve cost you too much.”
This time, Max ignored any attempt Wes made at trying to keep him back and pulled him into his arms. A lump formed in my throat as I stared unabashedly at the way Max tucked his arm around Wes’s body and buried his hand in his curls to push his face into his neck.
Wes melted into Max’s embrace, and I imagined Max could feel his breath stirring against the bare skin of his throat. He hummed a little deep in his throat, scratching his fingers deeper into Wes’s hair while angling his face toward my brother.
“You’re priceless, Nemo. There is literally no cost I wouldn’t pay for you.”
His words were an arrow right through my already weak and trembling heart. They brought me to my knees in what felt like a final blow. I stood there in the room, staring at them but no longer present. I was with Lars, wherever he was, and it became as clear as his crystal eyes that it didn’t matter where he went because I would go there too.
He’s worth everything.
Across the room, Wes pulled back from Max’s embrace. “I know you’re scared, Win.”
My attention snapped to my brother.
“Mom’s and Dad’s deaths scared all of us. It made it really hard for us to live. And yeah, you two coped by protecting me. I coped by allowing it. We can’t do that anymore. If given the chance, would you trade our parents for ones who had longer lives?”
