Page 117 of Lock Up the Darkness

Bareback.

She collapsed on top of him, satiated.

As he wrapped his arms around her, holding her to him, he looked out at me and Jonah wide-eyed, realizing what he’d done.

Jesus Christ.

25

~Asher~

No matter how meticulous you were with your planning, how controlled you were with every aspect of your life, all the fucking research and preparation in the world… none of that could account for unquantifiable phenomena.

It sure as hell couldn’t predict it.

And it most definitely couldn’t overcome it.

I didn’t want to overcome it, though.

Not this.

That was half the issue.

Aurora Blackthorn was engraved deep under my skin.

In my toxic veins.

In my blackened soul.

And, quite possibly, my rotten heart.

While I couldn’t treat the disease itself, I had been able to soothe the symptoms.

One such one being two days ago when I’d fixed my fuckup by bringing her the morning-after pill, watching as she took it, then stashing condoms in very visible areas all over the house, especially her bedroom. Not her bedroom, the guestroom she was staying in—fuck. I mean, I’d seen her birth control, I knew she was taking it, and the guys had told me that extra step of mine had been overkill, but I hadn’t been able to let it go. I’d been overcompensating for my fuck-up.

But then after being so strict and intense about that, on the flipside, I’d allowed her to go riding with Killian. When they weren’t supposed to be seen in public together, the risk with them taking the backroads being limited, but still a risk nonetheless. They’d raced one another on their Harleys for most of the afternoon. I’d been surprised that Killian had managed to ride with his ass still feeling the pain of my punishment. The ointment I’d given him would’ve helped, but he would still be feeling it. But he was smitten with her, so it was apparently overriding everything.

Jonah wasn’t immune to it either.

He’d been expressing it in his own way, having been holed up in his workshop making some gadgets and weapons for her to use when things came to a head with our plan to strike at our fathers and the Infidels empire. He’d even come to me with some of his strategies, all of which involved not continuing to include her in any of it going forward. The problem with his plans was that they were most often half-baked and far too aggressive. We weren’t going to win this with brute force. Precision was key.

And patience.

It was something I was known for possessing in spades.

But with this, the waiting regarding this mission… it wasn’t sitting well with me.

I was feeling the strain.

My skin was crawling with the need to act now, to fucking well get this show on the road, to finally start down the path of bringing the world that had held us all captive for too long crashing down and burning to ash at our feet.

There was another strain too… her.

Having Aurora here under my roof.

Right up close.

I’d thought after having her the other night, my interest in her would’ve waned. Been tempered at least.

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