Page 69 of Unveiled

“I never planned for my secret to come out,” he points out, reminding me it wasn’t him that told me. “I knew it would be foolish to chase after you, knowing he wanted you. It was a fight I would never win, so I kept the secret to myself and did what it took to make you happy.”

What it took to make me happy? I was happy before Cain came into my life. Could I have been happy if he came into my life and I walked away? If I had never given into him, never seen him as the man instead of the monster, maybe I could have. But, knowing what I know now, I never could have experienced this level of happiness with anyone else.

“I’ve watched you these last few months, Ains. You’re a shell of a person without him, even if you tried to hide it. You need him as much as he needs you. I wasn’t about to ruin that because I have a little crush.”

Confused by the thoughts running through my head, I collapse on the bed next to him and rest my head on his chest. He wraps his arm around my shoulder, comforting me while I try to make sense of everything. What if he had told me how he felt in the months when Cain was the monster again?

None of that matters now, though. I’m happy with Cain, and I don’t need to worry about what could have happened, because I don’t want to imagine myself with anyone else.

“Let’s just forget this happened,” Ethan suggests, trying to lighten the mood.

“I don’t want to forget,” I tell him honestly. This may change things between us, but he’s still my best friend. While I may not love him in the same way that he loves me, I do still love him. He’s been my person my entire life. The boy that grew up with me, watched me get my heart broken, and held me through the thunderstorms. “It doesn’t need to change anything between us, but I don’t want to forget.”

Ethan sighs as he holds me. “You’ll always be my best friend, you know that, right?”

His words should be comforting, but they bring a frown to my lips instead. “Even when you call me a cheap whore?”

Ethan stiffens under my head as his heart pounds against his chest. He’s probably fuming, but I can’t see his face, and I don’t want to right now. “I shouldn’t have said that. I was just so angry. Cain was acting like you were his property all night, and then he came inside with nothing but excuses after we could clearly hear what he did to you outside, and I snapped.”

Silence hangs between us as he focuses on his breathing, trying to calm himself down before he snaps all over again. This is a side of Ethan I’ve never seen before. He’s always been the soft, kind guy. Never the guy that flings insults and wants to fight someone for me.

“You know I didn’t mean it like that, right? I meant it as an insult to him, not to you. You deserved better than what he gave you that night. Outside, against the dirty house? Not to mention, we were in the middle of a family dinner. Couldn’t he wait until dinner was over and he could get you home?”

A panicked chuckle slips through my lips at his question. Ethan doesn’t know what actually happened that night. He doesn’t know that Cain was torturing me throughout the dinner, or that he crashed through my walls and made me fall in love with him all over again. He has no idea that what happened against his house was the climax to a three month long fight.

“Cain does what he wants,” I remind Ethan. After kidnapping me, holding me hostage, and killing people for me, claiming me against a house sounds like child’s play. “Can you trust me to handle him? If he does something I don’t want, know that I’ll stop him, okay? He would never do anything to hurt me, you know that.”

Ethan sighs before leaning over to plant a kiss on the top of my head. When his lips pull away, they’re replaced by his cheek as he rests his head against mine and cuddles me closer to his side.

“You just let me know if I ever need to beat some sense into him.”

We both laugh at that, knowing that Ethan would never stand a chance against Cain. It’s terrifying knowing that I’m on my own with Cain, but I trust him with my whole heart. If it comes down to it, I could beat some sense into him myself.

Chapter 27

Ainsley

“This was a lot more fun to do on the beach,” Violet pouts, but the twinkle in her eyes tells me she’s just teasing us. As much as she enjoyed her week at the beach, drinking and partying with strangers, we all know she’s even happier to be home and drinking with the two of us.

As soon as we were all settled and unpacked from our vacations, we got together for a girls’ night since we missed it through the week. We threw on a random movie to listen to in the background, but for the most part, we’ve been talking over our glasses of wine.

“Tell us you did something fun instead of hanging around here all week,” Cassie says, directing her statement at me. A blush creeps up my cheeks as I think of all the fun I had, not that I’m going to tell them about that.

I could lie and tell them I was with Ethan, but that feels wrong. Neither of them know about Cain, though they know something happened last semester. They know I met a guy, and that’s why I disappeared for a while.

While I’m terrified to tell them about him, and have them try to convince me to leave him because he’s dangerous, I’m also tired of keeping him a secret. We made too much progress this week. I love him, and I want to shout it from the rooftops.

“I was with someone,” I start, feeling the blush growing warmer on my cheeks and my neck.

Cassie shoots up in her chair, nearly spilling her wine. I swear, she can never keep her wine in her glass. She needs a sippy cup.

“Don’t tell me it was that guy from the club,” she squeals, excitement covering her face. Violet’s eyes switch from looking at Cassie to me, confusion filling her gaze. She was already at the beach when all of that happened, not that anything really happened.

“No, no, not him,” I tell her quickly. Honestly, I never want to think of him again. He was a mistake, even if he was the straw that broke the camel’s back between Cain and I. If I hadn’t done that, who knows how long Cain would have stayed away from me.

“A guy at the club? What? But, it’s someone else?” Violet seems so lost in this conversation, but I don’t really know how to clear it up for her. I can’t just come out and say I brought some guy home and planned to sleep with him so Cain could watch me get laid through the cameras he has in my room, all to make him jealous.

Even if I get that out, how do I explain that Cain is the guy from last semester? I can’t tell them what happened to me. Not just because I don’t want to relive it, but because I don’t want them to judge Cain based on that. I want them to love him as much as I do.

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