mention the one that I threw against the wall. “How, exactly, are we treating her, Aaron?”
“You know what I mean,” Aaron says, not looking at me. He's just staring across the street at the row of modest suburban houses. You can tell by the aged siding and the sagging roofs that even the homeowners who do care about their homes are limited by funds. Makes me think of the assholes in the Oak Park neighborhood with their luxury cars and soaring mansions, and I scowl. “The video. The thing with Kali. Everything.”
Aaron turns to look at me, his green-gold gaze cutting right through me as he furrows his brow. Are we going to talk about what happened on the couch? Are we going to talk about the fact that I said I still loved him? Looking at him right now, my heart breaks all over again, and I feel a lump forming in my throat. The day he broke up with me, I thought I would die. I truly and utterly believed that my broken heart would kill me. Somehow, I managed to patch it together and keep going, but the patchwork quilt of my soul is not the same as it was then. Aaron isn't the same either, not even remotely. I'm not even sure if it's possible for us to bridge the gap between us.
“I don't see the problem; you were shown the video. Is your problem then that you just weren't shown it sooner?” Oscar asks, his voice a derisive slight that I do my best to ignore. Kneeing him in the balls and wrapping my hands around his throat at Vic's house is one thing, but I can't do it here, especially not with things the way they are.
I lean back on the steps, basking in the sun like a snake. I don’t belong in the daylight, but every now and again I need to absorb a little light to keep me warm.
“You know,” I start, tilting my head to one side as I watch students shrink and cower past us. They might bet against us, but they know better than to show open defiance. Unless they’re willing to join the Charter Crew and fight the war, they’re nothing but peons. “Once Victor and I are married—”
“Oh, so you have decided to grace me with your hand in marriage then? After the other night, I wasn’t sure you were still interested.” Vic’s dark voice reeks of butthurt, but you know, it’s not my fault if he feels emotionally raped by my words. I offered him an olive branch, and he essentially spit in my face.
I ignore him.
“Once we’re married,” I start again, raising my voice and turning my attention on Oscar. “You aren’t going to speak to me like that anymore.”
“How so?” Oscar asks, carefully setting the iPad aside and leveling his gray gaze on me. He obviously isn’t afraid of me. Either he can learn to respect me, or I’ll show him the true meaning of fear. “You think marrying Victor gives you some sort of status upgrade? Don’t fool yourself.”
I laugh, letting my head fall back, sunshine caressing my throat. I’ve bared it to this group of dangerous assholes, like a wolf who isn’t afraid to let her inferiors sniff her neck. I’m not afraid. Let them try to bite me and see what happens.
“Marrying Victor does give me a status upgrade,” I say, turning to look at the man in question. It’s impossible not to look at Aaron, too, seeing as he’s sitting on Vic’s other side, looking at me in just such a way that I wonder if today he might actually speak up, fight for me the way I’ve been craving since moment one. But, I guess not today, Satan. “Doesn’t it, Vic?” I ask, quirking a brow. He shifts uncomfortably on the step for a moment, turning his obsidian gaze to the street and narrowing his eyes.
I have his balls in a vise, and he doesn’t even know it.
Actually, the only reason that I know that is because he has my heart in one. I want to please him so badly and yet, I hate myself for it. I’m sure Victor feels the same way about me. That, at least, levels the playing field.
“You might be king of Havoc, but if you think I’m going to marry you and keep this crappy omega status you’ve granted me, you have another thing coming.”