Clinging to Severo as his arms wrap tighter around my body, I can’t hear what Seven is saying to Kelsey, but I see the intensity in his eyes. He wants to let her go. He wants to let her die. But when he looks over at me, his gaze softens, and I know, I just know he’s going to go against my wish in that moment of weakness because he understands me. To my soul, and that I’ll have regrets later.
“He’s a good man,” I mumble.
Severo kisses my temple, and I close my eyes, savoring the warmth of his touch. The love I feel in that instinctual act. “He loves you.” Lifting my chin with a finger, his lips drop to mine, and we breathe. The same air, the same relief. “I love you, Aria Adair.”
The tears I’ve been holding back all day crash through like the tsunami trying to claim the sea now. “I know. I love you too, Ro. I love you both. So much.”
The cuts all over my body begin to sting as my adrenaline plummets, and Seven finally joins us, his chest pressed to my back. “You can’t do that again,” he murmurs against the nape of my neck. “I can’t handle it. Twice is my limit.” The stress in his voice squeezes my chest.
“You and me both,” I whisper before turning to face him. “I love you, Sev. I’ve always loved you both. I never knew I’d be so lucky to call the two of you mine, but here we are, and I do, and I’m just…” Emotion clogs my throat. “I’m just so grateful that you’ll always come for me.”
“Forever,” they vow at the same time. I hold onto this moment until we’re on the Coast Guard boat and being looked over by the medics. Thankfully, my wounds are superficial, but they still want me to go to the hospital because I hit my head in the explosion.
My dad and Holden hover as I’m helped off the boat before finally taking turns wrapping me in their arms. “I’m okay, Daddy.”
“Of course you are. You’re your mother’s daughter, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t lose another ten years off my life.” He sounds so tired.
“You taught me to take care of myself. I was prepared this time. I knew what to do.”
“We did,” he reassures himself. “I know we did, but fuck, if I could burn everything to the ground just to keep you safe, I would.” Someone clears their throat, and I know it’s a police officer, but I don’t care.
“I’ll help you.” Smiling as I look up at him, he kisses my head the same loving way he’s done my whole life, and I feel a weight lift off my shoulders. This time, I won’t carry the burden of guilt from a kidnapping I couldn’t have prevented any more than the last one.
CHAPTER10
Severo
For the past three days, I’ve been watching Aria. The way she eats, sleeps, walks. I can’t keep my eyes off her. She’s still stiff and sore from being thrown from the boat and then rescuing a bitch that deserves to be lying on the ocean floor.
But that’s not our girl.
She’s tough. Resilient. A fighter among fighters.
“You keep staring at me,” Aria accuses as she flits around our kitchen like she's always been meant to be here. Hell, she has.
“I am.” No point in denying it.
“Yet, neither of you have tried taking me to bed.” I stand up straighter at her directness.
“We haven’t,” Seven says as he enters the room, leaning on the opposite side of the doorway as I am.
“I’m beginning to think it was all in my head.” She still won’t look at us.
“What was?” I ask her.
Placing the cookies she pulled out of the oven on the cooling rack, her eyes finally lift. “The way you make me feel.” A strand of hair from the messy bun on her head falls forward, and I realize this is the first time she hasn’t tried to hide her scars. “The way you make me burn inside.”
Sharing a look with my twin, I move to shut the stove off while he prowls around the counter and, without warning, lifts her over his shoulder and carries her out of the kitchen.
“About damn time,” I hear her grumble on our way up the stairs.
I haven't given it much thought as to why we’ve held back these last few days; she even agreed to stay here with us for a bit. We could have been making love day and night, but I think the remembrance of how fragile she was after Tristan had something to do with it.
Entering the bedroom, Seven is stripping her down as she sways in front of him to a song in her head, and her eyes are closed. I takemyclothes off, not hesitating to press in behind her, using my hands to massage the globes of her tits while Sev kneels in front of her. He’s addicted to her sweet pussy.
“Together this time,” I whisper against her neck, and she hums. I already know I’m the one taking her ass this time. I need to feel the most profound connection possible, and this is the way to do it.
“Together.” She smiles in agreeance.