“I don’t know what you mean,” she denies as her eyes graze over the menu in front of her. My brother and I share a knowing look as we give her the moment of space. This is new for Aria, and we vowed to each other that we would understand and give her the time she needed. But I’m finding I’m having trouble doing so.
“You do know there’s no scaring us off, right?” Ro tilts his head to the side while assessing her with his calculated gaze.
She doesn’t hesitate to return his scrutiny. “I know you think you know what it’s like to be me. Now, before, always. You’ve been around since I was born, watched me grow up, rescued me.” Her breath catches, and she closes her eyes for a quick second. “But you have no idea. None of you boys know what it’s been like for me, Hads, Lake, and especially Scotty. You can’t begin to comprehend the hell we go through because people think they know us, our families.”
“What are you saying?” I ask, shifting in my seat to face her.
“You guys have the added advantage of being large; you have bulk behind you. But us girls? We’re slight, petite even. Add in the fact every single one of you has over-protected us our entire lives. I don’t think we’ve ever told anyone but each other about the things we’ve faced in school. The girls ostracizing us because boys see us as forbidden fruit. A challenge to conquer.” Her voice grows angry with each word spoken.
“Are you saying you girls never told us when you were being bullied or harassed?” I can see my brother growing tense, his anger simmering beneath the surface. While mine turns volatile.
“Yes. Because we know the consequences.” She doesn’t blink at sharing that revelation, and it has me thinking over all the times that one of us boys fought back for the girls.
She’s right.
Everything we did was always to the extreme.
It’s not likely to change either.
CHAPTER3
Severo
Dinner was…illuminating.
After dropping Aria off at home with the promise to pick her up after lunch today, I find myself sitting on the front deck of Seven and I's shared house as the sun rises, hot coffee in hand, contemplating everything Aria told us. Every single one of our moms was in the midst of some horrific crisis when the dads met them.
Raising us to be protective of our moms, sisters, and female cousins was ingrained in us from an early age. What happened to Aria seemed to be the catalyst to more tragedy. Two years later, Lake Sutton was off at summer camp, and when she came home, she was a mere shell of the bubbly girl who left.
For over two years now, she’s never told a soul, as far as we know. I don’t know if it’s because of the aftermath of Aria being found or something more sinister. But ever since, Saint Rivers has been slightly more psychotic than usual, which doesn’t say much because he’s a scary beast.
“You’re still thinking about what she said.” I hear my twin's voice from the doorway. Without looking at him, I nod, recognizing that he's been up all night, the same as me.
“Not knowing what else she's gone through is eating me up inside. I want to tear the walls of that school apart and drag every single person in there to the dungeon and terrorize them the way they did her. All four of them.” I fucking hate that the girls hid this shit from us.
Hate even more that we didn’t pick up on it.
Staring into the empty cup in my hands, I feel Sev move closer before sitting in the chair next to mine. “All we can do is be there now. Be her buffer while letting her grow. Lord fucking knows we don’t deserve her, but I know neither of us is willing to walk away.”
Minutes separate us in age, but sometimes I wonder if Sev isn’t twenty years older for all his wisdom. He’s right. I’m not walking away. I couldn’t, even if I were a better man. This possessive feeling I’ve had for Aria spans well over a decade. Call me crazy, call me sick, so long as everyone calls her mine.
“We waited for her, brother; she’s the reward for all the shit we’ve done. For all the survivors we’ve saved.” Crickets chirping break up the silence of his statement.
For years, the Adair family has helped abused women, children, and even a few men escape their situations. From all parts of the world. I don’t know how or when it started, I just know that at sixteen, it was the first time Seven and I helped a young mother and her two children escape the clutches of an abusive husband. It was also the first time we killed a man. The taste for blood hasn’t diminished, but we reserve it for the truly depraved people of the world who more than deserve anything we dish out.
“Survivors,” I repeat the word. That same mother told us she was no longer a victim. That because of us, she was a survivor. Since then, we’ve never referred to another rescued person as a victim. She was right; the abuse was over for her, and she could live again. Ever since then, we’ve been sure to give the same advice to everyone we’ve helped.
Aria included.
“It’s going to take King a while to get on board with this. She’s still his little girl,” I tell him.
A grin works across my brother’s face. He loves nothing more than a challenge. “Aunty Lil is going to help. Hads is going to help. Holden knows she’s ours. Has for years. King is a puppy compared to them.”
A bark of laughter erupts from my chest at his description of our uncle. A puppy he is not, and he’d kick our asses if he ever heard us refer to him as such.
* * *
Aria