Page 28 of Their Demon

She pressed her lips together, like she was trying not to smile. “Something tells me they’ll listen to you just fine.” She tipped her head, gesturing behind me.

“What? I—” I stopped talking once I turned to see the twins standing in the doorway between the kitchen and living room, staring at me like I was a stranger in their home.

I couldn’t read them. The looks they were giving me seemed to be a combination of sad, angry, pitying, and puzzled—if that all at once was even possible. No one moved as we played an awkward round of a three-way staring contest.

Ida cleared her throat. “I’ve got dinner covered, Lilly. How about the three of you go discuss things in the living room untilthe food’s ready? Communication is the only way to make this better. All three of you need to listen to each other.”

I nodded, and my body moved of its own accord, following the twins to the couch and sitting in my spot between them.

“So…” I started, fiddling nervously with my hands. “How much of that did you hear?”

“Too much,” Nicholas mumbled grumpily.

“Enough,” Aiden snapped at the same moment.

Wonderful. I’d pissed them off.

I hadn’t meant for them to hear all of that. I exploded in a moment of weakness and let all the things I’d bottled up out at once. Whenever I’d brought anything up to any of the brothers, they tried to sympathize with me and tell me assorted variations of ‘we understand, but this is for your safety’. When I finally got the chance to let it all out, knowing I wouldn’t get that sort of response, I busted at the seams.

Part of me felt terrible, but a deeper part felt relieved. They got to hear exactly how I felt without me having to endure their pitiful stare-downs and useless reasoning.

“Look…” I paused, thinking over my next words. “It wasn’t supposed to come out like that. Not exactly. It’s just—”

“If you were so unhappy, why didn’t you say something?” Aiden asked, his gaze meeting mine. The way he looked at me broke my heart. He looked so sad, so defeated, but I had to remind myself that he wasn’t the only one hurting.

I blew out a breath. “I tried.”

“When did you—”

“Many times,” Nicholas butted in. I turned to face him, but his eyes were still cast down. “But we didn’t listen.” He lifted his eyes to meet mine, and I could see his silent apology. “We never meant to hurt you, Lilly. You know that, right? It was all meant to—”

“Keep me safe. I know, but the one I was being protected from knows about me now. I want to get out of here and experience Hell the way everyone else can. I want to see the city. I want to try the food and meet the people. I want to explore until my legs are too tired to keep me upright and you have to carry me back home.” I blinked back tears as I finished.

The twins nodded in sync.

“I am so sorry, baby,” Nicholas said first. “So, so sorry.”

“I’m sorry too, little one. We were so focused on keeping you safe, we didn’t realize we were smothering the life out of you.” Aiden got up and moved to stand in front of me, but before I looked up at him, he lowered to the floor until he was on his knees. “Forgive us?”

Nicholas quickly joined his brother. “We will make it up to you, we promise.”

I couldn’t help the smile that crept to my lips as I watched my twin princes bowing before me, asking for absolution. “And how will you make it up to me?” I said as I crossed one of my legs over the other and leaned away from them.

They stole glances at one another, pondering silently, before Aiden said, “Anything.”

“Anything?” The twins nodded eagerly as I brought my hand up to my chin and tapped my finger against my lips, as if in deep thought.

“Anything you want, baby,” Nicholas added. “We will even have Mavis come over if that’s what you wish.”

I shot up, my body taut as I looked back and forth between them. Aiden rolled his eyes and sighed. Nicholas cursed under his breath. Both pairs of eyes dropped back to the floor.

Those deceptive bastards.

“You know about Mavis?” My heart was thumping. “It was my idea. Ida had nothing to do wi—”

“Actually,” Aiden said with a wince. “It was my idea.” His eyes trailed up from the floor to mine, full of guilt. “Lilly—”

“You lied to me.”

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