Chapter 117

Neil snaps back into himself in the next moment and shoves me away.

“Neil,” I say, my voice tight. I can’t help it, my fury is raising on his behalf. Especially because he seems so damn calm about this horrible thing on his chest. “What the hell is this?”

“No one asked you to look,” he snaps, but he makes no motion to conceal the scar anymore. He just lets his shirt hang open, chest exposed.

“But that scar –”

“It will heal eventually,” he says, like it’s that damn simple. Like when it’s gone, it will be like none of this happened.

I just can’t see it that way. “Did your father do this to you?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It does!” My voice raises. I take another step forward, reclosing the distance between us. Up close, the scar looks so red and angry – painful. I hate his father anew, for doing this to him. “I’m going to speak to him.”

I’m going to tear his eyes out, more like. That’s in the context. Neil must be able to see, because his eyes go wide again, for a fraction of a second.

“Like hell you will!”

I’m ready to fight. I’m ready to cross town, with or without his permission, and give Alpha Hayes a piece of my mind.

Instead, Neil grabs me by the wrist and drags me into his room. He slams the door behind us, then slams me into the closed door.

He’s not as muscled as Archer, but he’s still damn intimidating when he wants to be. And he clearly wants to be now. He steps into me, crowding me up against the door.

His eyes narrow as he glares down at me. I swallow thickly, hating how intimidated I am.

…And how sexy he is in this moment.

Stupid body! Stop reacting to this!

This time, Neil is more focused than me.

“I do not need you to protect me,” he says, voice so low it’s nearly a growl.

I want to argue, but it’s hard to find my voice right now. Being scared and turned on at once is a shocking combo.

“I made my choice, and I will suffer the consequences,” he says.

Suffer the consequences? In what universe should the consequence of a slip of the tongue be some kind of mortal peril?

“You shouldn’t be punished for an accident,” I say.

Neil continues to glare down at me. It sends a zip of pleasant fear up my spine. He’s so domineering like this. Almost, otherworldly.

But I keep my wits and hold up my chin high in defiance. I won’t be bullied, not about this. I will absolutely never change my mind.

Neil’s father is a monster for doing this to him.

For a moment more, we glare at each other. We’re both breathing a bit heavy. With how close we are, our heaving chests brush on the inhale.

Then Neil’s gaze dips down to my lips and my thoughts fizzle out.

Then Neil starts to lean.

My body reacts on instinct. I tilt my head back, ready to accept his kiss.

The kiss doesn’t come.

He stops a mere inch away, mouth so very near my mouth. When he speaks I can feel the warm air of his breath.

“I’m marrying Angela.”

The words hit me like a punch. And yeah, okay. I know that. Of course I do. But when I was about to be kissed by a really hot guy with a really hot tongue, it’s so easy to forget everything else.

But he’s right.

He is marrying Angela.

I’m the one piece here who doesn’t belong.

He steps back, giving me room. I don’t need him to dismiss me, this time. I feel the change in the air of the room. It’s colder, somehow.

I turn from him, open the door, and slip out without looking back. I don’t close the door behind me, but he does.

Then I start down the hallway again.

I wish I could stop to visit Mia, but with how sick I was, and how tired I still am, I can’t chance it. I have to wait until I’m feeling 100% better.

The brothers have been kind about this. They are protective of Mia so it makes sense. They’ve each divvied up the extra hours to help take on the nanny duties until I’m recovered.

But without my usual schedule to keep me occupied, I’m not totally sure what to do with myself. I don’t want to just stay in my bed. I know that won’t solve anything.

So I start to walk. Well, wander really. I don’t have a destination or a purpose. I wander through the Pyramid, going to all the places I know. I even venture down into the garage and walk through the fancy cars.

It amuses me, how alike the cars are to their owners. All of the cars down here are expensive. Neil’s are classy and distinguished. Archer’s are a bit flashier. Neil has his motorcycle. Steven’s are a touch more eclectic, he seems to have one of each kind. I wonder which one he actually drives.

As I slowly make my way back to my room, I walk through the hallway of the brothers’ bedrooms. Steven, Neil, and Beau’s doors are all closed.

Archer’s, however, is halfway open. I can see as I approach that he’s working out.

He’s lying down on his bench, with his feet planted on the floor, knees bent. He’s lifting a pair of dumbbells over his head.

The muscles in his arms flex from the exertion. He huffs a harsh breath of air with each forward lift.

Gods, he’s so fucking hot.

He has on shorts, but that’s it. No shirt, no shoes. A sheen of sweat covers his body, making all those muscles glisten under the lights.

I’m entranced, watching him. His body is built like a finely-tuned muscle.

My mouth goes dry, remembering the feel of it under my hands. When he had kissed me in the library, he had lifted me so easily, as if I weighed nothing at all.

He ended this before they ever really began. I should have known better than to get too attached. But Archer, like Neil, walked straight into my heart like he belonged there, and has refused to leave since.

It hurts, knowing that they will unfortunately mean more to me than I would ever mean to them.

In a month, when I leave, they’ll likely forget me in a minute. Out of sight, out of mind.

But I, meanwhile, would likely carry these three months around with me at the forefront of my thoughts for the rest of my life.

It hurt, knowing that. Being unable to do anything about it.

Archer lowers the dumbbells to the ground, then pushes himself up until he is sitting. He reaches for a towel and dabs at his face.

“Do you like what you see?” he calls.

I startle. It takes me too long to realize he’s talking to me.

“Nothing I haven’t seen before,” I say back.

“Bet you see it every night, in your dreams.” He smirks.

Smug bastard.

He’s only slightly right. It’s not every night.

I’m not about to tell him that.

I reach for his doorknob and slam his door closed. Behind it, I can hear him laughing.