Page 92 of Filthy Few

“It was the only thing I had left of you when my world fell apart,” I admit quietly.

Vox remains silent a while digesting my words. “I need you to hate me, Nova.”

Nova.

Not witch.

I slowly turn back to face him and find his gaze already focused on me. I search his gaze and when all I see is resolution I sigh. “Then you need to stay away from me.”

“I’m trying,” he admits.

“Even at school, I need you to stay away from me.”

He scrunches his face. “I’m a cunt to you at school.”

“You don’t get it, do you?”

“Get what, witch?”

I shake my head and will my tears to remain at bay. “No matter how badly you treat me, it doesn’t erase the fact that I have your attention on me. I want to hate you more than anything, I want to blame you for everything, but I can’t!” I shout the last part as tears begin to flow down my cheeks. “Any attention you give me is better than not having you. You want me to hate you, then I need you to act like I don’t exist and stay as far away from me as you can. I won’t come to any games with Nexus, I see you and I’ll go the other way but I need you to do the same.”

He’s grinding his teeth so hard I swear he’s going to break some. In a move that surprises me, he snaps his arm out, grips the back of my head and yanks me forward until our foreheads touch. Having him this close confuses me and has my heart beating so fast I fear it may leap out of my chest and land in his.

“When I was little, I wished that I would find a way to save my sister from taking over the Saints. I swore I would never let anyone come between me and that goal.” I take a shuddering breath and nod.

“I understand?—”

“No, you don’t, because you have come between me and that goal.” My eyes widen in shock. “I can’t save you both and here I am trying to find the will to sacrifice you for her and I can’t do it ,so I am going against everything I believe to save you both.”

My mouth pops open. “What?”

He releases me and slumps back in his seat. “Everything is a ploy, nothing you think you know is real. Everything is a plan and I am so fucking close. So close. I just need some more time and I have until Halloween to get it done or I fail.”

“What are you doing, Vox?”

He lulls his head to the side and stares at me with a distraught look on his face. “Trying not to lose my twin or the witch who cast a fucking spell on me I can’t seem to break.”

His words fill me with warmth, they’re like a balm to my battered heart. “I didn’t tell her that it was… you… in the video,” I admit.

A whoosh of air escapes him. “I know.”

“How?” I push.

He keeps his gaze focused ahead but I can see that what he is about to say is angering him. “Vivian thinks I have no idea that she has feelings for Ezekiel…” I gasp. He faces me and the burning embers in his eyes have my breath hitching. “AndArcher and Hayze. If she knew what I did, she wouldn’t have spoken to me.”

She has feelings for allthreeof them!

“You knew how she felt and you still…” I let my sentence trail off, unable to finish.

“The anger you feel for me right now, hold onto that, witch, because that is what is going to keep you alive.” He ends the conversation by starting the car and pulling back onto the deserted road, while I sit here reeling. I feel more confused now than I did before I climbed into his car. I expect him to continue on his mission he was sent on but instead he drives me home. He doesn’t pull into the driveway, which I am grateful for because I don’t have the energy to deal with Thomas right now. I reach for the handle but his words stop me. “What’s the debt I owe, witch?”

I peer over my shoulder at him. “Huh?”

“You said a favor asked is a debt owed. You fuck me and I give you something in return, what do you want?”

You.

I don’t say that aloud, instead I force my feelings for him back into the box I have been hiding them in and ask, “Who is Elenor Denver ?”

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