Defining Darkness - K E Osborn Page 0,31
inhale sharply. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. Sure, she’s angry at me because she shared your story about your parents, then I shut down when she asked me to open up to her.”
Ivy furrows her brows. “You like her? You like Eva more than you want to.”
Groaning, I slump back into my seat. “I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing, Ivy.”
“You’re like me. We hide our emotions from everyone, so we don’t have to admit who we truly are. Me, I know who I am. I hide it out of fear of rejection from my sister. You, you’re the opposite of me. You put out this image of who you think you should be, and hide who you really are so your brothers won’t know the parts of you which could fail the brotherhood, that could fail the president you’ve worked so hard to be.”
“You see all that from meeting me a couple of times?”
“I’m pretty fucking smart. I can read people. Getting wasted the night we got taken was the first night I let my defenses down. I never do that. Not ever, and look where it got us. In some clubhouse separated from each other, and poor Eva having games played with her emotional state. So, yeah, I can read you, Nycto, like an open fucking book. This game you’re playing with Eva isn’t going to work or end well.”
“I’m not playing a game, Ivy. I’m trying to do this the best way I know how—”
“By lying to her? By keeping us apart?”
I stand, the metal legs scraping along the concrete floor. “If the two of you get back together, you will hatch a plan to escape or con someone into using their phone. I can’t risk it. I can’t risk the buyers knowing you’re both here.”
“Then let us go! We’ll go into hiding. If we’re together, we can figure out our own shit.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Ivy. They would have been tracing your movements for months before they took you, waiting for the right opportunity to strike. The minute there’s even a hint you’re alive, they will have their men after you faster than you can wipe your own ass.”
“Ewww… crude much?”
“The fact that was the only thing which stood out in that sentence proves my point. You can’t handle it out there, Ivy. They will find you. They will capture you, then sell you off. I wouldn’t even know where to begin to search to rescue you both if I were even still around after they found out I lied about your deaths because, don’t forget, I’m covering for you both. So, you leaving at any point puts not only my ass on the chopping block but also my VP who you couldn’t take your eyes off of before.”
Her eyes snap open wide as she gasps. “What? No, I wasn’t.”
“Ivy, Void is complicated at the best of times… but if you like him, even as a friend, then you need to remember he’s my VP. His head is just as much on the line as mine is.”
She gulps a lump down her throat as she slumps into her seat. “You’ve put your club and its members all in danger for Eva and me?”
I throw my hands in the air. “Finally, one of you gets it.”
“Why?”
My body stills, a tingle runs down the back of my spine as an image of Eva sweeps through my mind. She’s stunning, the most natural beauty I’ve ever seen. But it’s not just her looks which has me losing my shit over her, it’s also her sass, her bite, her insolence which all drive me to crave her. Underneath it all, there’s a heart of pure gold. She has the fight of a warrior, the calm of a goddess.
What is it about Eva that made me take her? It was everything.
“Eva. I saw her, and I just…” I pause not able to put my thoughts into words without coming across as a damn pussy.
“I get it now.”
My eyes flash to hers, I narrow them at her. “You do?”
She weakly smiles. “If anyone just looked at me the way you did when you said Eva’s name… I. Would. Explode.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“You’re infatuated. It’s why you want to keep us apart. It’s because you said if she saw me, she would try to escape with me, but that’s not the whole truth, it’s because you want her for yourself, whether you know it or not yet.”
“She’s going