Page 53 of Lock Up the Darkness

I joined him on his left side and shifted to face him and Aurora.

“Have. A. Seat,” he ground out at Kill who was clutching the scotch bottle and swirling the liquor around, just glaring on.

With a grunt, Kill complied, taking a seat on the matching armchair adjacent to my cushion.

I watched Aurora glancing around the room, taking everything in. “Do you guys ever think about lightening up this space a little?”

“You mean with a lighter shade of couch?” Asher said.

“Exactly. Maybe even something as bold as a white leather one to contrast against all this dark.”

A laugh burst from me.

Asher smiled. An actual genuine smile that I hadn’t seen from him in a hell of a long time.

“What?” Aurora asked.

I pointed to the empty spot where the wraparound couch had been. “What you’re describing was actually right there. Asher’s pick of a couch. I messed it up. It’s being treated and cleaned.”

“It’s nice to take a break from that tacky thing,” Kill groused, lifting the bottle to his lips to take another sip.

Asher threw out his arm in front of me toward Kill and held his hand out for the bottle. “Enough.”

“Enough, huh?” Kill bit back.

“Yes,” Asher returned in that deceptively calm tone. It was even creepier than that dangerous one of his that made it clear something was coming. With this one, you just never knew what the hell was coming at you, how, or why, or how fucking bad it was gonna be.

“Kill,” I said, laying my hand on his arm that was resting on the chair.

“No,” he snapped, shrugging me off. “We’re just supposed to sit here and pretend everything’s fine? Like everything’s normal?”

“Well, things are never exactly normal,” I responded.

He slammed his fist into the chair arm. “This is different!” He waved his hand holding the bottle wildly at Asher. “You fucking used me! You used me against her! You made me play a part I didn’t want to play with Liza when you know that’s all I fucking well do with everybody, all I’m allowed to do! This, the three of us, what’s here between us, that’s all that’s real for me. That’s all that’s allowed to be real for me! And you fucked with that!”

“I saw an opportunity and I took it,” Asher responded, matter of fact.

The unemotional response with absolutely no sign of an apology just ramped up Kill’s rage all the more, and he shot to his feet, staggering over to Asher and looming over him.

Fuck.

Asher stared up at him steadily.

“Why?” Kill roared. “What the hell was worth fucking with that, with our brotherhood? You being able to turn her? Fuck her? Make her our plaything, like Jonah wants? Or, maybe you’re looking for a new member, huh? Is that why she’s here right now in our domain like she’s one of us? Why she’s under your protection?”

I shot a look at Aurora through Kill’s outburst.

Expecting to see anger, upset, and a shitload of indignation for the way he was talking about her, I was damn well surprised when there was none of that coming off her, neither in her demeanor or her expression.

She seemed sad for him, worried even. There was compassion there.

She inadvertently caught my eye and looked away quickly, then an unaffected, cool edge was thrown up, hiding what I’d just seen.

“I did it for us,” I heard Asher telling Kill, his words pulling me back to the two of them.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Kill demanded.

Asher grabbed his hand around the bottle and used it to jerk him close. His silver eyes burned into Kill’s. “To free us all. I’ve finally found a way.”

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