Page 166 of Loving the Liar

We both turn to him, and Chris stands straighter, squaring his shoulders. “You said if I got out, you’d grant me anything I want. Here it is: I want Ella out of the Circle.”

Duval is about to open his mouth, but Chris cuts him off.

“And I want to be allowed to wait for her. No one will be promised to me until she decides if she’ll be the one.”

“Leave us.” Those are the only words from Duval at first. He’s talking to the future Shadows.

They walk out of the room, only leaving me, Chris, Luke, and the president of the Circle.

“I would have to run this through the board,” he explains.

“Your word is everything in this society. So, make it work,” Chris throws back. “You tried to end me, and I’m back. You should know by now how far I’m willing to go to get what I want.”

Duval runs his tongue across his teeth, still thinking.

“I guess if that means we have you in the Circle, I’m willing to make an exception.”

“Sound choice,” Chris answers smoothly. “And Megan. Do what you have to do, but McLean can never know.”

Hesitating a few seconds, Duval looks at all of us. “This is a big ask, Christopher.”

“If her dad knows what I did. It could destroy the Circle from the inside.” He pauses, clearly unsure if he wants to say his next words. “Think of it as something to hold over me.”

Duval nods. “Why don’t you go home and rest. We will call on you, don’t you worry. Once you don’t look so much like you’ve crawled out of a grave.”

My eyes widen, and I look at my brother. “A fucking grave?”

“Let’s go,” Chris tells me, brushing my hair behind my ear.

“Even being buried alive couldn’t fucking keep him away from you,” Luke mumbles annoyingly as we walk through the hallway.

“You know what’s funny?” Chris says, his voice broken by exhaustion.

He looks at Luke as we keep walking. “For someone who wanted me dead, you put something on my head that helped me not get soil in my mouth or nostrils. And you also gave me a belt I could use to dig. Oh, and chose to bury me in a spot with my head right next to the root of a tree, allowing for air pockets and for me to follow a trail to the surface.”

“You’re imagining things,” Luke answers knowingly.

There’s a silence before Chris adds. “I just find it interesting.”

Luke drives Chris home, and he’s about to leave when I tell him I need to talk to his best friend. I think the thought of losing Chris over all of this made him realize it was not for him to decide whether we should date. He doesn’t allow anything, but he doesn’t stop me either, telling me he’ll be waiting.

The second I’m alone with the man I love, I take him in my arms. His arms wrapping around me feel like they’re already putting me back together.

“You crawled out of a grave for me.”

“What is it you guys don’t understand about nothing will stop me.”

I laugh against him, tears in my eyes. “You’re insane.”

He steps back. “Ella, I meant what I said in Duval’s office. You’re free now, not an Aphrodite anymore. And…you’re not mine either. Not unless you decide to come back out of your own volition.”

When I take a step back too, I watch his face fall. The pain it causes is visceral, but I see it too. Carrying on like this, because he didn’t leave me a choice, wouldn’t work. We would never be equals, and there would always be that part of us that wonders…would I leave if I could?

He’s letting me leave now, even if I might never come back to him.

“I realized something, Sweets. Something I didn’t want to be true, but that I know is.”

He scratches his throat, massages the back of his neck, and locks his eyes on mine.

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