I honestly wasn’t sure what I preferred. All I knew was that I needed to tellthem.
“When I was little, I lived with my brotherandit was just us so….”
Everyone paused, and Demetri’s eyes turned soft next to me when I met his expression. Open and easy, just like earlier when I feared I upset himandhe looked back at me as if it could never be possible somehow. “We’d be happy to listen.”
They would. Wouldn’t they? Yet my voice remained restraining. The kitchen table held silent as if they were all on the edge of their seats, waiting for me to say more.
But I couldn’t.
Maybe I never would be able to.
“Maybe some other time.”
Chapter
Twenty-Five
MARKO
Liam nudged me.“I’m… proud of you, Marko.”
“Shut up.”
“Seriously,you’rekeeping it together. Consider me impressed.”
“Shut up, Liam,”I warned him once more.
He laughed and headed towards the stairs.
My fingers tapped across my knee. I changed into sweatpants earlier after dinner whenall of usseemed to go our separate ways for the evening.
While I got comfortable, Calwas trying to convinceElla to watch a movie with him.
Our omega.
I shook my head out of the thought even though it circled around and around my head.
Ella was oursandshe was frightened. I would make sure she was safe.Protected.
Iwouldn’tlet anything or anyone hurt her ever again.
My body vibrated with the need to move. I needed to do something.
Standing up, I opened the door and headed down towards the basement.We set up the home fitness room down therenot long after we all movedin.Liam insisted after his time in boarding school that he was officially disgusted by sweaty public gyms that smelled like feet or some shit.
Immediately, no matter how much I disliked cardio, I jumped on the treadmill.
I started at a jog before picking up the pace, hitting the buttons to go faster, harder. Musicpumped through the built-in speakers.
I shut my eyes, feeling every pound of my feet against the runway. Sweat peaked and trailed down the side of my face and along the loose strands of my hair thathadn’tbeen swept back.
Maybe I should finally get a real haircut. Chop it short like I used to keep it out of the way, though I could imagine what would happen if Ididn’t.
I could almost feelthe sensation ofwhatElla’sdainty fingers would feel like trailing through it when she looked at me with nothing butunderstandingas if she could see what I saw.
Me andher,we were a little bit the same.And under all that fear, maybe there wasevenhope that the two of us together…
I shook myself out of the thought.