Chapter 6

6

Eli

Ican still taste Abel on my tongue. Maybe I truly am concussed because I sit there and stare at him as he walks to the dresser and pulls on a pair of jeans. A shirt quickly follows, and then he disappears into the bathroom. When he returns, he’s got his boots back on. He tosses a key onto the bed next to Harlow. “Uncuff him, or don’t. Your choice. Don’t try anything funny.”

And then he’s gone.

It feels like he sucks all of the air out of the room when he leaves. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, how I’m supposed to feel. I’m pissed, but this is a thousand times more complicated than a simple coup. We have too much history, and it bled into every moment of that interaction.

Once upon a time, Abel was the most important person in my life.

I know all too well how love can turn to hate and fester, especially after what he’s experienced, but I didn’t expect to feel anything resembling conflicted.

I didn’t expect to enjoy the sight of him fucking Harlow, even a little.

I sure as hell didn’t expect to like sucking his cock.

I push the confusion away and look at Harlow. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” She climbs to her feet and bends over to grab her dress off the floor. She’s got beard burn on her thighs, and her skin is still shining from the sweat of their fucking.

She fucked him right in front of me. She came twice. That’s not simply submitting to the handfasting consummation. She did it out of spite.

I exhale and slump back against the chair. My whole body aches. My face, my mouth, my shoulders. It’s not impeding my ability to breathe, but everything hurts like a motherfucker. “I didn’t realize you meant it when you said you’d never forgive me.”

“I meant it.” The quiet words land between us like bombs. Harlow sinks onto the bed facing me, her expression painfully locked down.

It strikes me that we haven’t been alone like this in a very long time. She’s taken to sleeping in another room, citing our differing schedules as a reason. I let it go at the time. I thought she just needed some time and space because things had gotten so tense between us. The more I tried to hold her close, the more distant she became. Nothing helped, not gifts, not little surprises, not doing the shit that forged our relationship in the first place. Not even sex.

But the days turned into weeks, and before I knew it, a year had passed and her shit started disappearing from the room we once shared. The room that was only mine now.

And I let it happen. It was easier that way. Easier to ignore the growing distance between us. Easier to keep going through the motions of running our faction and keeping the people I care about safe. Always a delicate dance, and now I’ve gone and fucked it all up.

I rattle the cuffs. “Are you going to free me?”

“I’m thinking about it.” She studies the key in her hand. “I told you to let me go, Eli. You should have just done what I asked.”

“I couldn’t let Abel hurt you.”

She narrows her eyes. “I can handle Abel just fine on my own. Something you’d know if you ever bothered to pay attention. He’s a monster, but he’s a monster with a code.”

“You don’t know that.” That might have been true with the Abel I knew eight years ago, the one that I was raised practically alongside, but that was before everything in his life went up in flames. This new version of him is harder, colder, crueler. Like his father. I can’t say I don’t deserve everything coming to me—I do—but I don’t want Harlow to pay the price of my sins. I witnessed what Bauer Paine did to his enemies; I can’t afford to assume Abel won’t do the same.

“It took two conversations to figure it out.”

“I’ll talk to him. Now that it’s consummated, he can let you—”

“Eli.” She shakes her head. “Stop whatever you’re about to say. He’s not going to fuck me, pat me on the ass, and send me on my way. He won me, just like he won you, and it couldn’t be clearer that he intends to keep the faction even after the year is up. He might not technically need both of us to make that happen, but he’s not going to throw away a resource just because it bothers you. If anything, he’ll keep me around to needle you with until the very end.”

She’s got a pretty clear read on the situation, but that doesn’t mean she’s right. “I’ll talk to him,” I repeat.

Harlow lets out a bitter laugh. “Sure. Right. Why listen to me? Do you know what’s going to happen if you keep pushing Abel?” She holds my gaze, her dark eyes hard. “He’s going to take it out on me.”

Fear raises its ugly head. I don’t want to see her harmed. That’s the very last thing I want, the last thing I’ve always wanted. “I won’t let him hurt you.”

“Who said anything about hurt?” She drops the key on the bed and stands. “We gave him the perfect method of punishment tonight, didn’t we? You hate to see his hands on me, and I’m just angry enough to welcome it. How many times of him fucking me in front of you will it take to get the truth through your thick skull?” She glares. “You’ve only ever seen me as a prize to keep safe and display when it suits you. Now he’s stolen that prize, and he’s going to rub your nose in it every chance he gets.”

“Don’t talk about yourself that way.”

“Why not?” I’ve never heard her sound so cold. “It’s the truth, isn’t it?” She walks into the bathroom and shuts the door quietly behind her. A few seconds later, the shower turns on.

I let my head drop and curse hard. I fucked that conversation up, just like I seem to fuck up every conversation Harlow and I have had in the last couple years. No matter what I say or how I say it, I cut her with my careless words. The closer I try to hold her, the farther she slips from me.

If this hadn’t happened, she would have left me within the year, and I still don’t understand why.

“You’re a fucking fool.”

I lift my head. I hadn’t heard the door open, but now Abel leans against it, watching me with a cold expression. He was never so icy when I knew him, but I recognize it all the same. It’s the same face his father presented the world. “Thought you’d be gone for longer.”

“Yeah, well, plans change.” He studies the bathroom door. “I thought I’d have to spend some time bringing her around, but she’s so angry, she’s only too happy to jump on my cock to punish you.”

It takes everything I have not to react to that. I give him a slow smirk. “Are we going to talk about Harlow? Or are we going to talk about the fact that you just fucked my mouth and liked it?” He’s not the only one, but I’d rather die than admit it.

“A means to an end.” He’s still watching the bathroom door with a contemplative look on his face. “You know, I thought you’d make it more difficult for me, but you’ve served your faction up on a silver platter. Your old man must be spinning in his grave.”

More like my father might find a way to come back from the afterlife to gut me for the events of tonight. “He’s dead. What does he care?”

“Mm-hmm.” Abel finally looks at me. He was never soft, but the years away from Sabine Valley have made him look like he’s carved from stone. Like he’s seen shit and made choices no person should have to make. Because of what my father did to his family. Because of events I helped put into motion.

I search his face for the Abel I used to know, even as I recognize it as a hopeless endeavor. My best friend is gone. The man who’s become my enemy is the only one who remains.

“Why not just kill me and be done with it? That’s what you really want, right? Your revenge.”

“All in good time.” He says it so casually. “Where did you find her?”

I don’t like how I can’t seem to distract him from Harlow. No matter what she thinks, you can’t get a good read on a person from two conversations. Even with his absence, I’ve known Abel Paine the majority of my life. He is not a man to be trifled with, and while the man I used to know wouldn’t hurt an innocent, he won’t see Harlow as an innocent. She’s my woman, my other half in public. As far as he’s concerned, she’s in this world up to her eyeballs, and he’ll treat her accordingly. As a threat. Which means there are no protections in place to keep her safe.

“Answer the question, Eli.”

I give him an easy smile. “She’s been here all along. She grew up in the faction.”

He finally looks at me. “Tomorrow we go back to your place. You will inform your people that I’m now in charge—and of the consequences of trying the same shit they did eight years ago. You caught my father flat-footed. You won’t be able to do the same to me.”

“Abel—” It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell him the truth. I had a part to play that night, but it was never meant to be against him. Except intentions don’t matter, only actions and consequences do. I might not have wanted any harm to come to Abel and his brothers, but harm came nonetheless. Beyond that, I didn’t find them and bring them back. I let their exile stand.

So, yeah, I’m just as much to blame as my father.

“The only words I want to hear out of your traitorous mouth are ‘yes, Abel.’ You can stuff anything else.”

I clench my jaw and have to fight back a wince when the move sends pain splintering through my skull. “Why would I play nice?”

“You’re really going to make me spell it out?” He stops in front of me and drops into a crouch, putting us almost at eye level. Despite fighting eight people earlier, he’s moving without any stiffness or apparent injury. There are bruises on his face, yes, but they don’t seem to bother him in the least. Abel reaches out and taps my chin. “You’re so ready to throw yourself at me to distract from her. It’d be cute under different circumstances, especially because she fucking loathes it when you do that, but I don’t have time for the bullshit. I will fuck her every time you push back, Eli. And I’m going to make you watch me do it.”

I should dig in my heels. My faction comprises one-third of Sabine Valley and thousands of people. My father might have been just another flavor of Bauer Paine, but I’ve done a lot of work to help our people in the five years since his death. Things are better here now, better than they ever were under Paine rule, even if the territory still holds their name. That should be more important than anything. Even Harlow would say as much.

But…

I can’t let her be hurt. I just fucking can’t do it. I can be ruthless in every other way but that. She’s too important to me to let her pay the price for my sins. I swallow down my rage. “You really are a monster.”

“Pot, meet kettle.” He doesn’t blink. “How many people died in that fire because they were drugged and unable to flee? Don’t think too hard, Eli. I can tell you the answer. Forty. Forty fucking people dead because your old man wasn’t content with slitting my father’s throat in his sleep. It would have been forty-seven if we didn’t get out, and you wouldn’t have lost a damn bit of sleep over it.”

“That’s not true.” I know better than to argue, but the words slip out all the same. “I cared.” I cared so much, I did the unthinkable that night. I just didn’t realize how out of control things would get, hadn’t possessed the foresight to realize my father’s plans would include the other factions.

Intentions don’t matter; actions do.

“You can say that, but you didn’t do shit to stop it. That’s not caring. That’s cowardice.”

“I’m not a fucking coward. Your father was a rabid dog, and the entire faction suffered because of it. You know it, and I know it. You’re just pissed because we took him out before you had a chance to.” Fuck, fuck, fuck. I didn’t mean to say that, either.

“You always did like to spin the truth to suit your purposes. Whatever I planned for my father, I never would have done shit to hurt my brothers or our people, and you damn well know it.” He pushes to his feet. “And you’ve pushed me far enough tonight. Guess it’s time to pay Harlow a visit.”

True fear clogs my throat, shattering my control. “Abel, wait.”

“No, Eli.” He turns away. “You don’t get to try to call my bluff and then change your mind when it’s time to pay the piper. Or when it’s time for Harlow to pay the piper.”

“Wait. Fucking goddamn it, Abel! Wait!”

He ignores me, stalking across the bedroom and wrenching the bathroom door open. A waft of steam escapes, and he gives me a cold look over his shoulder. “Look, she’s all ready for me. Nice of her, don’t you think?”

“You fucking bastard!”

His dark laugh trails after him as he steps into the bathroom and closes the door. The click of the lock sounds unnaturally loud in my ears. I yank against my cuffs, but they don’t give. Of course they don’t give.

That doesn’t stop me from trying. If I can get to the bed, get to the key…

I try to hop the chair sideways, but my head is still fucked up, and I overcompensate, tipping over. I land on my arm and curse. No matter how hard I struggle, there’s not a damn thing I can do.

Once again, Harlow’s going to pay the price of my sins.