“I think your sister would’ve appreciated a warning.”
“It’s fine.” She tucked her hair behind her ears and flashed me a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “It’s good to meet you, Elijah.”
“You have to like each other.” Silas took her hand and hauled her across the room. “Thea, this is Daddy but you can’t call him that. Daddy, this is Thea.” He clapped his hands together. “You can hug each other now.”
My lips twitched.
“Youhaveto like each other, Daddy. You’re my only friends.”
That declaration was like a fucking shot to the heart.
The truth of it made me bleed, and the pragmatic yet barren look on his face made me want to go out and buy him all the fucking friends in the world. Hellyes, it was tempting to keep him perched in that computer chair, wrapped in that knit shirt and those damn tie-dye socks he loved. I was a greedy bastard, and I didn’t love the thought of sharing my baby but for as dark as he was, he was also bright.
A fucking star.
I gripped my boy by the back of the neck and hauled him against me. Hands on my chest, he peered upward, and I swept a lock of hair off his forehead. “You are the greatest friend I’ve ever had, Kitten.”
“Really?”
“Really.” I kissed him. “Thea and I like each other. I promise.”
He knotted his hands in my t-shirt. “But you don’t even know each other yet.”
“Thea kept you safe, sweetheart, and for that, I’ll always like her.”
I wasn’t fucking crazy about the way she was staring at me. Her lips were pressed into a firm line, and her eyes were thin as they raked across my body. No doubt, she was measuring my worth, and while I respected her for saving my baby from the sadistic fuck they called a father, I wouldn’t fucking hesitate to put a bullet in her if she tried to take him away from me.
Mine.
Silas rubbed his cheek against my chest, mapping the length of my collarbone with the tip of his nose. My shirt bunched in his fists, and he wiggled as though he wanted to shove his head beneath it and hide from his sister’s response.
I cupped the back of his head, slipping my fingers through strands of midnight hair while I stared at his sister. Familiar eyes tracked each twitch of my muscles, gazing at me as though she was logging every second of my interaction with her brother.
It wasn’t disapproval I saw in her gaze, but it wasn’t acceptance either.
“Silas.” I tugged on his hair and forced his chin up. Our gazes met. “Why don’t you give Thea and I a second to get to know each other? Alone.”
He flinched. “Are you kicking me out?”
“Of course not.”
Thea stepped forward. “If you want Elijah and I to be friends, we have to learn about each other, yeah? Sometimes it’s easier to do that without an audience.”
“No.” Silas rotated to face his sister. He dropped one hand but kept the other anchored to my shirt. “You don’t want to get to know Elijah, Thea. You want to ask him stuff about me. I.. I don’t know what your face means but you always pick at your fingernails when you’re worried.”
Her hands were knotted in front of her, and though she was trying to be subtle, it was clear she was tearing at her nail beds.
“Why are you worried, Thea? You said it was okay if I was happy.”
Her eyes honed in on the place we were connected. “Let go of him, Silas.”
The fuck?
“No.” Every muscle in his body flexed, and I could hear the bite in his words as he forced them between clenched teeth. “He’s my Daddy.Mine.You can’t take him away.”
“That.” Thea rubbed the back of her neck, narrow eyes calculating the way his grip on me tightened. “That’s why I’m worried, bud.” She took a breath, and her eyes landed on mine. “Do you understand the gravity of his obsession with you? Can you even comprehend what he might do if the two of you didn’t work out? My reluctance doesn’t stem from you, Elijah, and I want my brother to be happy, but if you hurt him—”
“Never.”