“Nope, you don’t need to. They won’t come in. They’ll be outside. I know this is technically Kiznitch drama, but my boys won’t back down until they know Patience has no ties to someone we despise in our world who has caused a lot of fucking pain and death. So until then, I’m rolling with you.”
“That was an excessive way to say that you care about me, Eli…” I grin, looking at him over my arm.
His eyes come to mine. All jokes gone. “I do, Lilith. I thought that much was obvious.”
“I’m not a very good people person, if you haven’t noticed. I don’t know how to read cues, but I know when someone is lying.”
His fingers are around my chin, forcing my face to his. “I care about you. We both do, and about each other. You, me, and him are it.”
“How will this possibly work?” I ask. “I overheard you both talking about it. I just can’t see how we won’t all kill each other eventually.”
“Because we want each other more.” The light from his phone illuminates his face, the sharp edges of his jaw casting a dark shadow over his sunken cheekbones.
“I’m a mess.” I try for that argument since it’s nonnegotiable.
“We know,” he answers casually, sending off a text before shutting off his phone and turning to face me. “But you’re still ours.” He points up ahead. “Take the third turnoff.”
“The third?”
“Yeah.” I do, turning onto the shoulder and onto the off-ramp. I slow down as we pass through a long road. It seems to go on for-fucking-ever.
“I care about you both, too. Probably too much,” I answer, falling into sixth gear to cruise at a manageable speed. “And honestly, I can’t—”
“Lil, it’s fine. We will talk about this later.” His hand is on my chin, his thumb gliding over my bottom lip. “It’s all going to be fine.”
I chuckle, biting down on his thumb. “Where we going?”
“When I was a kid, my grandfather told me something that sort of stuck all of my life. It wasn’t until I met you and Kyrin that I really understood what it meant. ‘Always a rebel, forever a soldier, one as a lover, the other don’t bother.’ It’s our Rebellis fundamental code. I’m a rebel for always, a soldier forever.” He pauses, turning to face me with a sly smile on his face. “One as a lover, the other don’t bother. In our world, the person we fall in love with usually always has another person. Nate was Madison’s, Brantley was Tillie’s, and well, Saint—all she got was Bishop, her half brother. The Rebellis riddle has been passed down in our family for generations. It was written in Tacet a Mortuis, our basic bible and weirdly off-putting love story of how The Elite Kings was created.” He takes a breath, watching the passing trees outside. The deeper we go down the road, the thicker the fog becomes until it’s swimming around the headlights. “Until me, they had it right. Every woman that a King ends up with gets a tattoo to signify that. Some fucking twisted way of ownership. With the Rebellis line, the women have always had that riddle tattooed on them somewhere.” He reaches over toward me and I sigh, closing my eyes when his fingertip brushes against the side of my neck. “Yours needs to go on your throat. Like a fucking collar.” My thighs clench together, but it’s my heart that can’t contain the sentiments.
I move into his grasp. “I remember everything that happened between you and me, you know…”
He chuckles, running his finger over his upper lip in an attempt to hide his smile. “I’d be worried if you had forgotten.”
“You were different. Even then.”
His hand is on my thigh as he brings his phone and snaps the shot. My bare thigh with his tanned hand, skull tattoos inked over top. He squeezes lightly, taking my hand in his and bringing it to his mouth to place a kiss on the back of my palm. “I’m not going anywhere. Even when you fight me, him, and we fight each other, we’re all never going anywhere. Promise me.”
I look between him and the road up ahead, noticing a town sign coming closer. “I promise. For as long as we’re all together, I’ll fight for us.”
He grins, bringing my hand back down onto his lap before turning to look out at the road. He gestures up ahead as we come to a sign that reads Welcome to Riverside.
“Is the town as creepy as its entrance?” I ask, lowering my speed as we drive over a bridge.
“Worse, it’s the people who are fucked up.”
I try to distract myself from everything he just said. Eli is good for my soul. He keeps my feet on the ground and my head in check. Even when I first met him, I felt a calmness wash over me. But with that grounding, I need chaos. I need someone destructive, raw, and overbearing. I need someone I can be submissive with, and that’s where Kyrin comes in. My triple soul flames.