Page 50 of Unconditional

Birdie’s gaze flicked between us again, tentative surprise lighting her features.“Is that true?”she asked me.

“Yes.”

There was a long pause before her shoulders were set back again.“And yet, even with your family and best friend threatened, youstillcouldn’t help yourself?You had to sleep with him.”

“That’s not—”

“Whatever, Misely.I don’t know why I’m surprised.”She turned to leave but Talon’s hand wrapped around her upper arm, stopping her before she could pass him.

“You don’t deserve her.”

She scoffed, yanking her arm out of his grip.“And you do?”

She stomped away and bile rose in my throat.I was ready to break down and cry, my heart breaking, but Milo was next to step out of the shadows.

“You ever put your hands on my girl again, brother or not, I’ll break your fucking neck.”

thirty-six

Talon

Miselywasthreesecondsaway from losing it and I was furious.More angry than I’d been before, than I’d been since the start of this mess.How fucking dare Birdie speak to her that way?Treat her that way?As if she were some common whore.As if she were less than.And how dare Misely let her?

In the entire time I’d known her, she was more than willing to go blow for blow with me, no hesitation.She never backed down from an argument and she never let me have the last word.But for Birdie?She folded so damn easily.Like she didn’t even have it in her to fight.

“Why do you let her talk to you like that?”I demanded, looking to where Misely sat on the bed, her head in her hands.

“Like what?She has every right.”Her meekness only served to infuriate me further.

“No.She.Doesn’t.Nobody has any right.”

“You do all the time,” she scoffed, not looking up.

“Misely, look at me.”She didn’t.

Crouching down in front of her, I placed my hands on her knees, forcing her to meet my gaze beneath the curtain of her hair.

“Nobody gets to disrespect you, baby.None of this was your fault.I shouldn’t have…fuck, I shouldn’t have involved you at all.This is on me.”

She sighed, dropping her hands.Unable to help myself, I grabbed them, running my thumb over her supple skin.

“Maybe it’s your fault that we ended up here.But Birdie was right about one thing.”

“I highly doubt that sweetheart, but I’ll humor you.About what?”

There was a flash of self-deprecation over her face.“I am selfish.I always have been.I go after anything that will make me feel good.So, she’s right.I couldn’t help myself.”She was looking at me like I was one of her sweet treats, one that she would regret later.

My mouth was on hers in seconds, my heart beating at an odd pace in my chest.Against her lips I murmured, “And that’s your right.After everything you’ve been through in your life, all the ways you do good by others.The way you do good by even me… You deserve to feel good too, sweetheart.I’m glad I’ve been able to give you that.”

Fuck.

Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything.Because that was too much; revealed too much of my own feelings.Delicate hands came up on either side of my face, the tips of her fingers tracing over my skin, her forehead pressing into mine.

"You're not supposed to be nice to me, Talon MacArthur."Her eyes were shimmering, but this time the tears didn't fall and I couldn't find the words to tell her that I never wanted to be anything but nice to her.

We sat that way for a while, quietly holding one another in that way, breathing each other in.I was doomed.

The last thing I needed was my brother’s smirk waiting right outside the bedroom door first thing the following morning.Misely was still sleeping; we’d been up late, not speaking but just holding one another.I’d never shared that kind of intimacy with another before, never bothered to try, but with Misely there was an instinctive drive to comfort her and draw comfort from her in turn.

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