Page 120 of Deceit

“Don’t be,” Ronan says. “We all let down our guard.”

My eyes come to Vincent who has his jaw clenched and his eyes turned away.

“Vincent? Are you okay?”

Slowly he turns to me, his eyes so sad they break my damn heart and his mouth smashed into a firm line as he shakes his head.

“I’m so sorry, Siren. I usually check your room every day before you get back. I thought you and Bartlett were going to her place. I should have checked.”

I frown at that.

“It’s not your fault. It’s not like you could have known that he was going to choose today to leave something.”

All three guys share an uneasy look as Asher steps in through the door, a gloved hand holding the piece of paper as he nods.

“He’s left you something every day this week. We’ve just been able to intercept it before you could see.”

“What?” I ask, as I whip around in Ronan’s lap so that I can face Asher head on.

His posture is rigid, jaw set like he’s prepared for me to come unglued.

“So, you guys have been lying to me? What else has he left?”

“Just pictures of you, more of your ruined panties,” Liam grits out with a disgusted shake of his head.

“And more poems, all adoring and loving,” Ronan finishes.

My eyes come to Vincent’s first, before moving to Liam, Ronan and finally landing on Asher.

“I can’t believe you guys kept this from me! How am I supposed to trust any of you if you’re keeping things from me? It’s my life that could be in danger. Does that not mean anything, to any of you?” I scoff.

“It means everything, to all of us,” Vincent says fiercely.

“Then, why the fuck would you think it was a safer plan to have me let my guard down? How is it better for me to think the situation is getting better, instead of keeping my defenses up to protect myself?”

“We didn’t want you to worry, babygirl,” Liam says.

“We just wanted you to have a little bit of a normal life. For just a bit,” Ronan finishes.

I let out a bitter laugh.

“Whose brilliant plan was that?” I practically snarl.

Liam begins to speak. “We—”

“It was me,” Asher says.

All eyes swing to him as he remains unmoving.

“I decided it was best to keep you in the dark. I didn’t want your messy emotions getting in the way of things,” he says, as he gestures to where I sit on the floor.

That jab felt especially painful, poking at a tender part of my walls that were slowly coming down for him.

“I forced them not to tell you, it’s on me. I’d do it all over again, because you’ve smiled more in this last week than I bet you have in your whole life.”

I open my mouth to argue that fact before I nod in agreement.

“See? You’re welcome,” Asher says, in a way that raises my hackles.

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