Page 52 of Burn With Me

“No.” His tone is hard, his face angry, but I push forward.

“It’s the only way,” I argue.

“No, it’s not,” he argues. “You don’t want to get involved with him. It’s too dangerous.”

I sigh. “I’m already involved,” I remind him.

He stiffens, but he knows it’s true. Blue eyes look down and then back to me. He considers me for a moment. “You don’t have to be,” he says, shocking me.

“What?” I gape at him. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“You can escape his path,” Isaac tells me. I can see the thoughts working through his mind in the expressions that play out over his features—worry, consideration, realization, acceptance. I don’t know what he’s thinking, but I have the sneaking suspicion that I won’t like it. “Follow your brother,” he tells me. “Go to Eastpoint.”

My hand snaps out before I even realize what I’m doing and I cup it around his throat, holding him as I shove my face close. My words, when they come, are low and angry. “Fuck. That,” I spit back at him. “You are not sending me away like someone in need of protection.”

“Youarein need of protection,” he replies coolly. He doesn’t even flinch or make any sort of reaction to my hand as it clamps down harder.

“I’m. Not. Leaving.” I say the words with precision.

He shakes his head. “You’re not putting yourself in danger either.”

We’re at a stalemate, him and I. Neither one of us is willing to budge. A rock and a hard place. I’m not even sure which of us is which. “Be careful, Isaac,” I warn him. “Be very fucking careful. Just because we fucked doesn’t mean you get to tell me what to do.”

He chuckles, his full, masculine lips spreading into a wicked grin. “You admitted you’re mine, Sunshine,” he says, leaning into my grasp as if it doesn’t bother him at all. I didn’t, not really. He just heard what he wanted to hear, and I … let him. It doesn’t mean I’m truly his. Even as I think that, though, guilt pricks at me.

“That more than anything fucking means you should do exactly what I tell you to do, but I get it,” Isaac continues. I blink. “You’re not used to being out of control. It’ll take time for you to realize that you can hand it all over to me.” His hands clamp down on my hips and he lifts me, depositing me back on his lap—despite all the sticky, sweaty aftermath still all over the both of us. His lips descend and take mine.

It’s powerful, this kiss. It’s commanding. It’s mind-numbing. “But fine,” he whispers when he pulls back. “You win … for now.”

My hand falls away from his throat and he takes my mouth again, but in the back of my mind—despite the slack he’s given me now—I know it can’t last.

How long will I keep winning? Or is this even a true win?

Whatever the case, something tells me that the next part of our journey is going to be more perilous. If I want to be ready, I need to do more than demand inclusion. I need to be able to protect myself and my friends without Isaac’s help. I won’t stand next to him as a damsel in distress. I will stand as a fucking goddess, and should I fall, Isaac Icari will fall with me.

24

RORI

Isaac looks like a fallen angel when he’s sleeping. The bronze gold of his hair shines in the dim lighting as dawn crests through the windows and I pause in my efforts, my clothes clutched in my hands, as I take a moment to just look at him. My chest tightens.

This was a fucking mistake. An error in my judgment. I wish I could blame it on the alcohol, but I know deep down in my soul that wasn’t it at all. It was all my choice.Hewas my choice. A dangerous one.

The air conditioning kicks on above my head, blowing a blast of cold air over my shoulders and shocking me out of the moment of reverie I’m locked in. I shake my head and turn away from the image the man on the bed presents. I take what little clothes managed to end up in the bedroom with us and head out into the hallway, collecting my things as I go. I pull it all back on, frowning as my dress catches at the back.

Did he break it?The zipper gapes open and I growl in irritation, snagging what looks like a slim gray hoodie off the back of the couch in the living room and tugging it on to hide the fact.

I slap the button for the elevator, praying that I can make it out of here before he wakes up. Thankfully, it arrives without any sound from the bedroom. I pull out my cell phone and curse when I see the barrage of text messages from Selene, asking where I am and why I didn’t come home.

Quickly ordering a car as I head down to the lobby, I switch back to my messages and send a text, letting her know that I’m okay and on my way home now. Thankfully, Selene is less prone to freakouts than Hel. Once she sees my text, she’ll be okay. It’s early enough that there aren’t many people in the lobby as I hurry from the elevators to the outside. When I reach the rounded driveway, a slender black town car is pulling up.

I don’t wait for the driver to get out before I’m yanking the back door open and sliding inside. “Hazelwood Campus,” I bark. “Dorm side.”

The man in the front is quiet as he nods his acquiescence, and the car pulls out of the hotel parking lot. My anxiety is making me act up. I’m far more irritable than I should be—odd considering that I just had possibly some of the best sex of my life last night. Unlike my mother and peers, I never speak to people like that.

The guilt eats away at me with every mile that passes under the wheels of the vehicle. By the time the driver pulls up in front of my dorm, I’m already pulling up my phone and adding a generous tip on my card by way of apology.

Neither one of us says a word as I climb out of the back and head for the front doors. My heart hammers as the quiet of the hallways echoes in my ears. I press my key into the lock of the front door, turn it until I hear the lock click, and then withdraw it before easing the door inward. I step into the open kitchen of my dorm’s apartment, pausing in the doorway as a familiar figure stands up from the couch.

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