And then he’s gone.
It feels like he sucks all of the air out of the room when he leaves. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, how I’m supposed to feel. I’m pissed, but this is a thousand times more complicated than a simple coup. We have too much history, and it bled into every moment of that interaction.
Once upon a time, Abel was the most important person in my life.
I know all too well how love can turn to hate and fester, especially after what he’s experienced, but I didn’t expect to feel anything resembling conflicted.
I didn’t expect to enjoy the sight of him fucking Harlow, even a little.
I sure as hell didn’t expect to like sucking his cock.
I push the confusion away and look at Harlow. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” She climbs to her feet and bends over to grab her dress off the floor. She’s got beard burn on her thighs, and her skin is still shining from the sweat of their fucking.
She fucked him right in front of me. She came twice. That’s not simply submitting to the handfasting consummation. She did it out of spite.
I exhale and slump back against the chair. My whole body aches. My face, my mouth, my shoulders. It’s not impeding my ability to breathe, but everything hurts like a motherfucker. “I didn’t realize you meant it when you said you’d never forgive me.”
“I meant it.” The quiet words land between us like bombs. Harlow sinks onto the bed facing me, her expression painfully locked down.
It strikes me that we haven’t been alone like this in a very long time. She’s taken to sleeping in another room, citing our differing schedules as a reason. I let it go at the time. I thought she just needed some time and space because things had gotten so tense between us. The more I tried to hold her close, the more distant she became. Nothing helped, not gifts, not little surprises, not doing the shit that forged our relationship in the first place. Not even sex.
But the days turned into weeks, and before I knew it, a year had passed and her shit started disappearing from the room we once shared. The room that was only mine now.
And I let it happen. It was easier that way. Easier to ignore the growing distance between us. Easier to keep going through the motions of running our faction and keeping the people I care about safe. Always a delicate dance, and now I’ve gone and fucked it all up.
I rattle the cuffs. “Are you going to free me?”
“I’m thinking about it.” She studies the key in her hand. “I told you to let me go, Eli. You should have just done what I asked.”
“I couldn’t let Abel hurt you.”
She narrows her eyes. “I can handle Abel just fine on my own. Something you’d know if you ever bothered to pay attention. He’s a monster, but he’s a monster with a code.”
“You don’t know that.” That might have been true with the Abel I knew eight years ago, the one that I was raised practically alongside, but that was before everything in his life went up in flames. This new version of him is harder, colder, crueler. Like his father. I can’t say I don’t deserve everything coming to me—I do—but I don’t want Harlow to pay the price of my sins. I witnessed what Bauer Paine did to his enemies; I can’t afford to assume Abel won’t do the same.
“It took two conversations to figure it out.”
“I’ll talk to him. Now that it’s consummated, he can let you—”
“Eli.” She shakes her head. “Stop whatever you’re about to say. He’s not going to fuck me, pat me on the ass, and send me on my way. He won me, just like he won you, and it couldn’t be clearer that he intends to keep the faction even after the year is up. He might not technically need both of us to make that happen, but he’s not going to throw away a resource just because it bothers you. If anything, he’ll keep me around to needle you with until the very end.”
She’s got a pretty clear read on the situation, but that doesn’t mean she’s right. “I’ll talk to him,” I repeat.
Harlow lets out a bitter laugh. “Sure. Right. Why listen to me? Do you know what’s going to happen if you keep pushing Abel?” She holds my gaze, her dark eyes hard. “He’s going to take it out on me.”
Fear raises its ugly head. I don’t want to see her harmed. That’s the very last thing I want, the last thing I’ve always wanted. “I won’t let him hurt you.”
“Who said anything about hurt?” She drops the key on the bed and stands. “We gave him the perfect method of punishment tonight, didn’t we? You hate to see his hands on me, and I’m just angry enough to welcome it. How many times of him fucking me in front of you will it take to get the truth through your thick skull?” She glares. “You’ve only ever seen me as a prize to keep safe and display when it suits you. Now he’s stolen that prize, and he’s going to rub your nose in it every chance he gets.”