Page 97 of Ruthless Reign

Becca adjusted his arm so that it was laid over his middle, but when she had it placed, she didn’t let go of his hand.

She didn’t let go of his hand.

She held it, her knuckles turning white.

Kaleb cleared his throat, and she let go as if shocked.

And I couldn’t fucking stand it another second.

“Hardin, where are you going?”

“Hardin?” she called after me.

But I was already gone.

“He wouldn’t actually just leave, right?”

We still had no idea what Aodhán did to slow down the Sons. There could be blowback. It wasn’t safe for Hardin to be out alone right now even if he was the scariest monster in the dark. I still didn’t like his chances if he was heavily outnumbered and I didn’t think I could take it if he staggered through that door looking even half as bad as Aodhán did.

“Nah,” Kaleb said, pulling out another chair to sit next to me. “He’s probably out back in the shed. He’s got a heavy bag out there.”

I swallowed hard.

“You were right about him,” Kaleb said quietly, watching Aodhán out of the corner of his eye. “Maybe he can be trusted. He obviously cares enough about you to do whatever it takes to stop his Dad.”

“We don’t know that.”

He hadn’t said anything other than that he managed to slow them down. For all we knew Hardin could be right. This could all be some kind of elaborate trap. But in my heart of hearts I knew Kaleb was right. Aodhán almost died trying to buy us time tonight. For me.

“It’s just guilt,” I found myself saying, watching Aodhán’s chest rise and fall, his clover necklace glimmering in the light. “He’s the reason Séamas found out about me.”

“Did he tell you that?”

I shrugged. “He didn’t have to.”

I could see it in his eyes that day in the supply closet. He’d told Séamas out of some misplaced sense of loyalty and this was his way of trying to make things right. This was him groveling for my forgiveness…in his own way.

“It’s just guilt,” I repeated.

But Kaleb shook his head. “Nah. It’s more than that, Vixen, and you know it.”

I couldn’t look at him.

“I’m not sure I mentioned it,” I said on a sigh. “It wasn’t really important, but that day Damien—at your place—the day I found out he was my biological father. It was Aodhán that came and picked me up. I was a mess. He stayed with me for hours and just let me talk. He stayed with me even when I was quiet.”

I sensed the shift in Kaleb and something curdled in my stomach.

“Nothing happened,” I rushed to say. “Nothing has ever happened between us…like that, I mean. He was just…I don’t know, a friend? And then when I found out who he was and that he’d turned around and told Séamas all about who I was…”

I trailed off.

“Yeah, I would’ve beat him with a tire iron, too, Vixen. I assume some of those bruises are your doing?”

Kaleb indicated the thick angry purple lines on Aodhán’s forearm. I’d been ignoring them, but faced with them now I found I didn’t feel as guilty as I thought I might.

He told his father about me—who I was.

He shot Kaleb.

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