Page 92 of Burn With Me

“Aurora—”

“Did you not fucking hear me?” Marcus steps between us and I clench my fingers into a fist, dropping it to my side.

“I heard you, but I was under the impression that your sister was an adult in her own right who could speak for herself.” I cock my head to the side, keeping my voice cold and steady.

Still, Aurora doesn’t look at me.

“Marcus.” The older woman steps forward, her short choppy hair swaying above her shoulders as she takes me in. “Would you introduce us?”

Marcus keeps his mouth shut, so I sigh, reaching forward to offer a hand. “Isaac Icari.”

The woman takes my hand. “Carmen Summers.” The aunt, I realize. Emilia’s sister.

“Nice to meet you.” The words are automatic, but her smile isn’t.

She tips her head to the side as I take back my hand. “Is it?”

“Excuse me?”

Carmen’s eyes go from me back to Aurora and Marcus. “It seems to me that there’s more to your relationship with your new step siblings than my lovely niece and nephew have told me.”

Aurora finally speaks. “Aunt Carmen.”

“It’s alright, dear,” Carmen says, keeping her tone light. “Unlike your mother, I have no intention of pressing for things you don’t wish to tell me, but for you—young man—let me make something very clear.” I meet her cool gaze and wait. Her smile drops away. “I advise you to respect my family to the utmost of your ability.”

“I do—”

“And walking up in the middle of a private conversation and inserting yourself is not respectful,” she continues, cutting me off. “It seems clear to me that my nephew”—she cuts a look at Marcus before looking back at me—“doesn’t like you. You’ll have to forgive him, he’s quite protective of his sister.”

I sigh and bow my head slightly. “I meant no disrespect, ma’am,” I say. “I only wanted to check on Aurora. She…” I look past the woman to meet Aurora’s flat gaze. Her chest pumps up and down in short, rapid movements. Though she tries to conceal it, her eyes keep bouncing around. She looks past me and then back again. The muscles in her arms tense and relax as she continuously tightens her hold on herself and then realizes what she’s doing only to do it all over again. “She hasn’t answered my calls lately.”

“Good, take that as a sign,” Marcus snaps.

Carmen arches a brow at me. The intensity of her gaze is brutal. Unlike her sister, I feel as though she’s seeing through me, picking me apart with nothing more than a look. After another beat of silence, she looks to Aurora and does the same. Finally, she seems to come to a decision.

“Marcus, I think it’s time I go say my congratulations to my sister,” she says, taking a step out from between Aurora and me. “Walk with me?”

Marcus gapes at her and then, glancing around to make sure no one is listening, he leans closer. “You’re not seriously going to leave her alone with him, are you?”

“He has a point,” Carmen replies with a shrug. “Aurora is a grown woman, and I highly doubt that he’ll try anything untoward here in a room full of people.”

Marcus curses under his breath before turning back to the woman in question. As if sensing her aunt’s resolve, Aurora sighs and shakes her head. “Just go,” she says. “It’s fine.”

Her brother clenches his hands into fists before turning away. His shoulder smacks into mine as he passes, pausing for only a moment to whisper his last warning. “Make no mistake,” he hisses into the side of my face. “I don’t care who your father is. If you hurt her, I’ll make you wish for death.”

42

RORI

I’ll make you wish for death…Well, at least I know my brother isn’t a complete asshole. Not if he’s willing to threaten Isaac Icari like that on my behalf. I’m still mad at him, but it makes the anger in me ease somewhat. He doesn’t look at me as he stomps off with Aunt Carmen, and I’m left to my own devices with none other than the product of my darkest wet dreams and nightmares.

I sigh and slowly lower my arms. “What do you want, Isaac?” I came in here tonight expecting to throw my head back and brazen my way through yet another bullshit wedding reception. Faced with Eric Wood’s arrival, however, I probably sound far more tired than I was hoping to be the next time I saw Isaac.

“I want to know what Eric Wood did to you.”

My insides contract with shock. My lips part and my eyes snap to his. Intense. That’s the only word I can use to describe his expression. Now that there’s no one around us to pay attention, he’s relaxed into the perfect facade. Now, he looks ready to kill someone.

“That’s none of your damn business,” I say.

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