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“I happen to know that you’re full of shit because you didn’t even get out of bed this morning.” I threw back at him. Aeron cringed at my words as I pulled him closer to me, seeing right through the walls he was so desperately trying to hide behind. “He’ll be fine.” I leaned into him, my lips grazing his ear, grateful that Aeron had slipped us into one of the back booths. It gave us some semblance of privacy.
Aeron didn’t even flinch, his eyes focused on the steam rising from the cup, “You can’t promise me that. You didn’t – I can’t—” He trailed off, fisting a hand into my shirt beneath the table.
“Aeron, you can’t break down on me. If we’re going to do this, he’s going to need all of us, especially you.” I felt a pang of jealousy, knowing I wasn’t Killian’s rock in all this. Aeron had captured his heart first. Our Kitten would always need Aeron if he was going to survive his own mind.
The man from behind the counter, who I might have chanced a second look at in a parallel world, approached our booth, a full coffee pot in one hand and a tray of pastries in the other. “You look like shit, Phoenix.”
I shot him a glare, wondering where he got the balls to comment on how Aeron looked, but he didn’t back down. I tilted my head to the side, trying to remember why he seemed so familiar.
Aeron just shrugged. “Working through some things.”
“Does it have to do with Killian? I haven’t seen him since you guys came, and now you’re here with…” his attention turned to me, his eyes widening, “Ryker?”
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat as silence fell between us. Fuck. Small town. Images of an angrier, drunker version of myself stumbling through the streets after Killian had walked out on me flashed through my mind. I had been able to keep myself together for almost a week before my heart fell to pieces. I hadn’t even known I had fallen in love with the kid until after he walked out. I vaguely remembered bumping into the man standing before me and following him back to his apartment. Rough, dominating sexual advances ensued between us, neither of us wanting to surrender until I realized I didn’t want to control the situation. I needed someone to silence the thoughts in my head and make me forget.
So I gave in. Twice.
“How you been? What’s it been, like, a year?”
I grimaced, feeling Aeron bristle beside me. I hadn’t missed Tyrone’s inability to keep details to himself. No one had known about Tyrone. I didn’t feel it was necessary. At that time, Samael and Aeron had known I was heartbroken over someone, but they hadn’t known who. They also didn’t really care how I tried to get over that hole in my heart so long as it didn’t end up with one of us dead or in jail.
“What is he talking about?” I could feel the accusations in Aeron’s voice. Fuck. This was supposed to help us unwind, but now we were stuck here, and Tyrone was making things worse.
Tyrone’s eyes twinkled as he answered, “We hooked up once or twice.”
Aeron grunted low enough that I could still hear it. I sighed. “It was one fucking time. And it was a long time ago.”
Tyrone shrugged. “Felt like it was yesterday. You ever need to clear your head again, let me know.” He winked, sauntering over to the next table as if he hadn’t just wedged a rift between Aeron and me.
“The fuck.”
It wasn’t a question. I took a deep breath, knowing that I had a lot of explaining to do, not that my late-night expenditures were any of his business – but beneath Aeron’s gruff exterior, he was a simple guy. He didn’t like being lied to. “I was messed up after Killian left. It’s in the past.”
We had never been exclusive, but it was the fact that I had never said anything about Tyrone or that, in those moments, Tyrone had given me the release I needed.
“It doesn’t fucking look like it. I thought Sa—Merchant was—”
“He was. He is. Look, I was drunk and wasn’t thinking. It only happened that one time.”
I could see the wheels turning in his head as he tried to process the situation, “Then why the fuck is he so hung up about—” His eyebrows furrowed in anger. “You fucking bottomed for him.”
It was sort of a thing. I bottomed for no one – that is, except for Samael. It felt wrong later, which was why I never said anything about it. Had I known that Tyrone worked here, I would have never suggested this place but fuck if Aeron didn’t take that as a betrayal.
I watched him stalk out the front door. I could deal with most people’s anger, but Aeron’s? I could see that he was close to falling apart, memories of his depressive episodes that spiraled into mania front and center in my mind. That was when we got one of his kills – pure chaos and truly terrifying. Watching him drag a body into his basement, bloodied and raw, that lost look in his eyes had us on edge, and then the moments following when he got all silent and wouldn’t talk to me?
I ran both hands through my hair, sporting two middle fingers to Tyrone before following Aeron outside.
AERON
Seething wasn’t the right word. I didn’t even know why I felt so betrayed. Slash hadn’t technically cheated on anyone, but we were a close-knit group, and… what the fuck was I going on about? I was just overreacting because of Killian, right?
I could hear Slash’s heavy footsteps as he reached out to me just past the front door. As public figures, I knew better than to start shit in public, literally in the fucking street, but I was having a hard time swallowing my emotions. I was hungry, tired, and really fucking scared for Killian. Not to mention, Jenny’s lungs were rotting away in my fridge. Sometimes, I wondered if my men needed me like I needed them.
My head was a mess, always worrying about the moment we would be found out. The reports detailed our crimes, but Slash and Samael would end up in a cell with a Netflix special. I was merely a hideous creature with a taste for human flesh. Public sentiment would filet me, and I’d be left out to dry.
“What do you want me to say? It was a moment of weakness.”
I heard his words, knowing full well that he was terrified I was going to finally break apart. I spun around, pressing both hands against his chest, pushing him away from me. He stumbled back a few feet, shocked. “You could have fucking told me!” I spat at him.
