Page 37 of Ruthless Legacy

Thea will be less than thrilled that her legacy status is back on the table, but I’m still committed to helping her get through it. I know Holden is, too. And now, maybe Pax will finally stop with the bullshit and genuinely help us out.

He drove off as soon as dinner ended. This is a lot for him to process. I don’t need to be a mind reader, to know that he has to be rethinking everything his father told him about Thea. Yes, Pax, your father is a manipulative asshole, and probably knew about Thea’s connection to Joshua Laurent way before she got here. What I don’t know is why that mattered.

I strip out of my clothes and step onto my balcony, stretching out in my hammock. Thea still spends most of her time avoiding hers, even though I’ve stopped with the loud music and naked massages. I get my massages, but I keep my boxers on now. The only person I want seeing my ass or dick, is my girl.

I look over at her balcony, willing her to come outside. She doesn’t, so I call her.

“What?”

“Come outside.”

“No.”

“Come on, Pet. I promise there are no shenanigans going on tonight. The sky looks beautiful. It reminds me of you.”

She chortles.

“Do you know Neruda?”

“No, who’s that?”

He was a Chilean poet. His words from Love Sonnet XI come to me tonight.

“I crave your mouth, your voice, your hair.

Silent and starving, I prowl through the streets.

Bread does not nourish me, dawn disrupts me, all day

I hunt for the liquid measure of your steps.

I hunger for your sleek laugh, your hands the color of a savage harvest, hunger for the pale stones of your fingernails.

I want to eat your skin like a whole almond.

I want to eat the sunbeam flaring in your lovely body, the sovereign nose of your arrogant face.

I want to eat the fleeting shade of your lashes, and I pace around hungry, sniffing the twilight, hunting for you, for your hot heart,

Like a puma in the barrens of Quitratue.

- Pablo Neruda”

“Finn…”

“It’s how I feel about you, Thea. I stalk around thinking of you, craving you, always wanting you. Only you.”

The door slides open and she walks over to the edge of the balcony, watching me slowly swing back and forth.

With a heavy sigh, I say, “We were on our way to being happy after Christmas. How did it get so messed up again?”

“Ask your daddy.”

“Pax is an idiot, and I’m mad about the part he played in what happened to you, but he didn’t know.”

She stares up at the sky. “You and Holden said you’d keep digging. Do you have any more leads?”

“Not yet. As soon as we do, I’ll tell you.”

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