Page 132 of Serpentine

“I’d fuck you as death ushered us inside and asked us if we wanted tea, princess,” he jokes, and amidst my answering laugh is when my eyes see a corner of a bandage on the back of his shoulder.

I push up onto my knees over him, grabbing onto the headboard behind him as leverage to look over his shoulder. His back is covered in bandages. Tears form anew at the sight.

“Miles,” I sniffle. “What did they do to you?”

His hands come down to rest on my thighs, urging me to sit back down. “Nothing a hundred other people haven’t wanted to do to me before.”

I sit back on his lap and look him over for a moment before hesitantly leaning into him. Our lips hover and dance around the idea of kissing, the pulsing electricity between us almost too overwhelming.

When I finally close the distance, he groans into my mouth. I capture it. It’s not long before the kiss turns heated and out of control too quickly, and I rein myself in for the both of us and pull back.

“You’re hurt. We need to behave,” I pant.

He smirks. “Never. As long as I’m alive, I’ll do as I fucking please. I earned it.”

I smile and shake my head at him, astonished that he's joking even with his back in as much pain as it has to be. Braxton’s words about their mother hit my cortex again. I drop my face.

“Hey, what was that? What just happened?” Miles asks, reaching for my face and hissing in pain.

I lift it back up. “I have something to tell you. It’s why I came here, but you love to distract me…”

He shifts his eyes between mine, searching for something within them. “Tell me.”

I bite my lip, knowing this is going to shift everything. If only I could keep it to myself for longer…

“Now, Aella. You’re making me worry…”

“Your mother is alive. I met her.”

It feels as though invisible walls crumble surrounding us, ones he built for safety. Ones he built because she hurt him all those years ago by leaving.

“Excuse me?” His hands grip my thighs a little tighter, but not to the point of pain. Only to center himself.

“Dad pulled me into his office. I was sure it was because he found out I’d been rummaging in his files, but a woman was sitting in front of his desk. She looks so much like you, Miles.” A flash of pain crosses his face. “She said that my father helped her escape your father. That if she’d have stayed, he would’ve killed her. He’s been helping her hide all these years, and you two weren’t a threat until I gained access inside the company.”

“Until we had you,” he murmurs.

I nod. “Did your….” I pause, not knowing how to go forward with my question. “Was your father abusive?”

He licks his lips as if needing a moment to gather the answer. But he only nods in confirmation.

“After she was gone?” I ask, not knowing if I’m genuinely ready for the answer.

“He found new targets,” he says, and my heart shatters.

“Oh, Miles…” I lean forward and rest my head on his shoulder, breathing in the scent of his neck.

“She left us behind. She left us with him.” Neither spoken truth nor a question. It’s more his brain working through the betrayal laid out before him.

“She did,” I answer.

“She’s lucky I’m confined to this fucking bed,” he says, an edge to his tone that even sends a shiver through my center.

I keep silent, letting my presence be enough as his brain works over what his mother did.

The newscaster relaying recent events in town is the only thing breaking the silence as we sit on his bed. Neither of us is moving; we are both just breathing.

FORTY-TWO

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