Page 9 of Drop His Mask

He cast a brief glance at Jayce and Levi, both the men were finally asleep in chairs next to her bed. They had stayed up as long as they could to watch over Raven, but since they both insisted on being on guard, neither had gotten any sleep.

Enzo reached down to cup Raven’s cheek.

“You shouldn’t be in here,” Maverick spoke steadily from right behind him.

Enzo didn’t jump or even move. “I know.” He bent down placing a chaste kiss on Raven’s forehead. It was cold. He would have thought her dead except for the steady beep that punched into the room. Her bedroom was once more set up like a hospital.

“I understand why you kept whatever you did from Levi, but me? We don’t hide anything from each other.” Maverick’s voice pitched in emotion.

Jayce shifted in his sleep, but didn’t wake.

Enzo straightened up and met his brother’s accusatory gaze for one beat before glancing away. Enzo felt the familiar sensation of snakes slithering across his bones. He wished nothing more than to scratch at his skin, to make it go away. Except it wouldn’t. No matter what he did, he would always be tormented.

He deserved it.

“What aren’t you telling me? I can’t predict outcomes with unknowns.” Maverick leaned back against the bedroom door, but his shoulders tensed and his hands hardened into fists. “I should at least be able to trustyou.”

“That’s rich.” Enzo finally met his brother’s eyes. A mirror. A reminder of their dead triplet.

Maverick pushed off against the door and walked forward until his breath fanned Enzo’s face. Maverick looked past Enzo, at the woman, before resettling on him. “I saw an opportunity to save her.”

“It could have gotten us killed,” Enzo expelled sharply.

“It didn’t.” Maverick tried to hide it, but Enzo had spent years watching his brother, and the doubt that flickered across his brother’s face wasunmistakable. “Besides, you aren’t upset I saved her. You’re pissed you didn’t think of it.”

Enzo hung his head and turned back to Raven before shutting his eyes and rubbing them. “Fuck. What are we going to do now?”

“You have to tell them–tell us all–what you did.” That was the last Maverick said before Enzo heard him leave the room.

“He’s right.”

Enzo startled, finding the iciness of Raven’s beautiful eyes as she watched him.

“Why aren’t you screaming at me? Trying to wake Levi and Jayce? I almost killed you.”

Raven reached out a shaky hand lacing it with Enzo’s. He couldn’t help but notice how much smaller hers was than his, but even still, it was calloused and the squeeze she gave was hard, bordering on painful.

Raven was certainly small, but she wasn’tweak.

“What was it that you said? A circle of violence, a life of circumstances? You didn’t have a real choice. It was let your brother die or do what had to be done. I still trust you not to kill me, but even I am not stupid enough to think that you care about me more than Maverick.”

She let go of his hand and Enzo immediately missed the warmth it provided. His heart began to beat rapidly in his chest. He had a million things he wanted to say to Raven, to confess to her. How he hadn’t stopped thinking of fucking her. How she had made him feel whole for the first time since his triplet, George, had died. How she was everything he had ever hoped to find.

How the darkness that twisted inside him, refused to let her out of his sight.

But before he could say anything else, Levi jolted upright in his chair.

The large man’s anger was palpable, but his attention found Raven and it dispersed instantly. “You’re awake darlin’?”

“Why aren’t you up here with me, you big oaf?” She patted the bed next to her. The elation and happiness that now shone across her face was mesmerizing.

“Didn’t want to crush you.” Levi spared Enzo no attention as he unfolded himself from the much smaller chair, it was almost comical to watch. Except everything about this moment was wrong.

Enzo didn’t belong here.

He gave Raven one soft smile before turning to leave.

“You have to tell them,” Raven whispered softly. The words broke around her unused throat.

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