Page 37 of Bound by Adoration

“You’re gonna put a hole in the carpet, Nyx,” Screech said from the couch. After Raid left, he settled in to keep me company, but my mood made me not a good person to be around. My nerves were all over the place, overriding every emotion.

Were they going to kill each other? Would Raid bring Liam back? Would Liam want to come back? And being stuck here in this tomb with no windows and not going to him was pissing me off and making me restless!

“Those two are ticking time bombs just waiting to go off,” I growled low, my feet not stopping. I began to chew on my nail. Why was that a nervous thing? Like biting your nail would solve all the problems in the world. No, afraid not. It just left painful fingers after. Yet, here I was doing it.

Screech laughed. “You’re not kiddin’ there. I asked Liam to let me know when the explosion would happen, so I could get you and me out of the line of fire before we burn. Once they start, it won’t stop until there’s a clear winner. And the prize is you.”

This made my feet halt as my focus went to Screech. “I’m no prize. And if they do fight, like really fight, then I’ll disappear. I’m not jokin’. I’m not playing these tug of war games. Especially with those fuckin’ Hamiltons lurking around every corner in my nightmares. Either Raid and Liam get along, or I’m gonna be a lone wolf.” Best friends? No, I was more realistic that that. Cordial. Yes, they were more than capable of doing that. But I’d already decided that Raid must get over his jealousy because I wasn’t giving either of them up.

I loved them both. Yeah. I said it. I loved two men. Never thought my life would lead me down this path, but here we were.

Screech sat up, eyes wide with concern pouring from them. “You can’t.” I moved to talk, but Screech held up his hand. “You have to promise me, Nyx. You’ll stay here until those two hot heads and I get rid of those assholes. Would you survive if they got their claws in you again? I saw the video.”

My stomach fell, and as much as I wanted to hide away, there was no escape. Especially when he looked at me like that.

Of course, he saw the damn video of the poor woman getting hurt by those monsters. He’d want to know what freaked me out so much and his imagination couldn’t conjure up the vileness. But I never wanted him to see that. No one needed to see that, ever. It was scarring. These men weren’t stupid unfortunately.

“I’m a survivor, Screech. Always have been. But with them, I don’t have the answers. Never have. I just know I’ll fight like hell before I go with them.” Or die, but I wasn’t relaying that to him. It was completely true, though.

“You will. But you have to let everyone help you. You’re not alone anymore. Raid and Liam will work themselves out, especially when it comes to keeping you safe. You know that. Let them take care of you. Help you.” He was so sincere, it both hurt my heart and filled it. I’d been alone for so long, but I also didn’t want to be treated like a damsel in distress.

“I’m not a woman who ‘gets taken care of.’ Once I escaped there, I’d stood on my own two feet for a long time. So it isn’t easy for me to rely on others. And with the constant push and pull between those two, I don’t know what to do besides scream at them. Which I fully admit doesn’t work.”

“You’ll know when the time is right. Just breathe and try to be a little patient.” Screech was deeply concerned.

I rolled my eyes to the ceiling as if it would give me answers. “Patient? When it comes to this? Yeah, good luck on that one. My patience was lost a long time ago.”

Just then the alarm started blaring as the front door opened. I grabbed the gun I’d put between the cushions of the couch only to point right at Raid and Liam who walked through, and both smirked. “You fuckers,” I mumbled, putting the gun back behind the cushions.

“Honey, we’re home,” Raid said as the door shut and locked into place.

Screech visibly shuddered. “Please don’t quote movies.”

Raid laughed in a low rumble. Something I hadn’t heard since leaving my place. “We all need to talk. Let’s go to the couch,” he said, but I ignored him, running to Liam and wrapping my arms around him, holding him tight. He came back. He came back! The fear of him not was stronger than I’d realized.

He needed to know before whatever talk Raid had. “I wasn’t upset that I kissed you. I wanted to. Always have wanted to. It might’ve came out that I was feeling guilty or regretful, and I’m sorry for that. This situation is just more confusing and complicated than I ever expected. I don’t ever want you to feel like what we have is a mistake. Because that isn’t true one bit. I’m so damn happy you’re here. Please don’t leave again.” The last part was a bit on the begging side, but I wanted him here, with me.

He kissed the top of my head, neither of us letting go of the other. His warmth surrounded me, and I loved it. Loved his touch. “I know. I might’ve overreacted a bit. It fuckin’ hurt thinkin’ you thought you were doin’ something wrong, but once I got out of here and then talked to Raid it all fell into place. We’ll get into all of it. Let’s sit and get everything out in the open. Because I thought even more on the truck ride back.”

Liam took my hand and led me to the couch. Raid growled, and I narrowed my eyes at him. “Knock it off.” Hugging him didn’t set the old grump off, but Liam holding my hand did. That made a lot of sense. He was going to be a challenge.

The damn alarm went off again, and I pulled away from Liam, running behind the couch and pulling out the gun before looking at the screen in the kitchen. I kept forgetting about that damn thing. My ass kept waiting for it to open which was stupid considering the screen gave me a heads-up. “What’s your brother doin’ here?” I asked, clicking the safety on the gun and setting it on the end table. No sense in hiding it when I needed to pull it out every five seconds.

Raid moved to the door that was already opening. “My man.” Ax held out his hand and Raid took it, pulled him close, then slapped him on the back in one of those bromance hugs. “Thanks for this.”

“Umm… Thanks for what?” I asked, wondering what Raid was up to now. Didn’t we have enough going on?

“Ax is gonna take Screech back to his place to get some shit,” Raid answered.

“Wait. Shouldn’t he be involved in our talk?” I asked. He was part of all this mess too, wasn’t he?

Liam touched my arm gently. “No worries. He’ll be back. The three of us need some time to talk, alone.”

My brows lifted in surprise. “The three of us?” Was there a “three of us?” This had me guessing exactly what went down while the men were away.

Ax lifted his hand and flicked it in the air. “And that’s our cue, tall man. Get your shit and let’s go.”

Screech looked between all of us. I knew to my core that he’d be safe with Ax, but my feelings were conflicted about him being so far away from us. So much could happen in the blink of an eye, and if we weren’t there...

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