Page 59 of Love's Ace

And fuck me, yes… I understood why Gethin had given everything up.

“Ready?” I murmured.

“Yeah, go ahead.”

I knocked on the door once and waited in silence. When Gethin didn’t answer, I did it again.

The sound of footsteps approaching made me brace for Gethin to mutter again and send us both flying out of the graveyard. Instead, the door opened.

Gethin didn’t say a word. He looked back and forth between the two of us—at the cuts on my chest and the way Theo’s lips were still bruised from my kisses, the way I’d left marks on his neck and torn his shirt until it clung to him in tatters.

When he muttered beneath his breath and the sensation of his barriers dropping washed over me, I used my fingers interlaced with Theo’s to pull him inside. He only hesitated for a second, wincing as he stepped over the threshold.

I hadn’t even bothered to ask him if he was okay after being thrown out of the house. I didn’t completely understand the magic involved in being able to expel a threat with a single word, but I’dfeltthe pain rocking through his body when he slammed into the ground.

I had no idea if it reached deeper, to something on a soul level.

Whatever it did, it wasn’t enough to dissuade him from following me, and he only tried to pull out of my grip for a second when I led him to the couch and pushed him to sit down so I could follow suit. With my side pressed to his, I felt a measure of calm settle over him. Over both of us.

“Uh… have a nice walk?” Gethin asked, his expression wide and innocent, like he hadn’t instigated everything that hadhappened. I turned to him with narrowed eyes, but it was Theo who spoke up.

“Yeah. Feel better now, thanks. Just needed to get some air.”

“That’s good. I found some blankets for you both—the couch folds down into a bed. It looks like you’re going to share, so…” He trailed off with a gesture, and made a show of locking the front door.

How were they both acting like nothing had happened? Like we’d actually gone for a walk instead of Gethin using magic against Theo? The rain had done a good job of washing most of it away, but Theo and I were still covered in mud and blood and sex.

I’d been prepared to take sides if I had to, and I’d been surprised at how easy it was to realize which side I would take.

It seemed like I wasn’t going to have to do that after all. Relief swept through my chest, and some of the tension ran out of my body. I didn’twantto lose Gethin as a friend, and I knew if it came down to it, that’s exactly what would happen.

Was that why Theo wasn’t angry? For me?

“Goodnight, Gethin,” Theo said, and the only evidence that he wasn’t sure how he felt about the situation was the tension that ran through his muscles where our bodies touched. Hewasdoing this for me.

“Night. I’ll go to the library with you two in the morning to see if I can find something you didn’t notice. I have an idea of where we can look.”

And like things were completely normal, Gethin trailed to his bedroom and closed the door behind him.

Like his strings had been cut, Theo slumped against the couch once he was gone.

“Are you all right?” I asked in a low voice. He just shrugged.

“Tired. I was kind of worried he wasn’t going to let me back inside.”

I could have told him I wouldn’t have come in without him, but the sudden confession seemed so out of place when he’d literally been trying to tear me apart earlier.

And I’d already overplayed my hand, telling him that he wasmine, that nothing was allowed to hurt him as long as we were tied together.

I’d almost told him I had no intention of cutting our thread, but…

Too much.

It was entirely too much.

All of this was overwhelming, and I knew he probably felt it just as much as I did. I pushed him off the couch and folded it down instead of saying anything, and Theo watched me with careful eyes as I quickly changed out of my wet clothes. He was wary when he did the same, not saying anything as he quickly scrubbed himself clean with the ruined fabric and pulled on something dry. The worry didn’t fade from his expression until I lay down and held my hand out to him to join me.

Even after what we’d just done and everything I’d said, there was still a part of him that was waiting for me to push him away, waiting for me to hurt him.

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