Page 73 of Bear
She presses those pouty lips together, finally swallowing and finding Duke’s eyes. “I saw.” She pauses to take a quick breath. “I saw what he did to you.” And then the words come in a waterfall-like rush. “I know you said to stay in the car and not come in, but I had to pee so bad, and so I did. In the bush. But I was under the window. You were in that room with Tristan.”
Both my head and Bear’s simultaneously whip from her to Duke. My chest clenches savagely. “D? Care to enlighten us?” I murmur softly, already aware of what she’s referring to. I’d been so worked up by the time we got home, I hadn’t brought up the goddamn handprint his father left on his face.
He hangs his head, his tongue coming out to slide across his upper lip as he looks away toward the pool. “It was just my father being the prick he always is.” There’s a faint tremor to his hand as he raises it to his jaw. “He gets off on smacking me around. You know that.” His blue eyes meet mine for a split second. In that short time, though, I see the immense pressure he’s under.
Lennon steps close to him, tugging his hand away from his face and gently sliding her fingertips along his jaw. “I’m sorry he did that to you. I could say he’s an insufferable asshole, but you already know that.” She gives him a little smirk before she touches her lips to his cheek.
Bear crosses his arms over his chest, studying Duke. “You okay?”
“I’m fine.” He gives a swift jerk of his head. Huffing a bit, he focuses on Lennon. “I want to know what happened toyouin there.”
She sucks in a breath, her gaze shifting to take in each of us in turn. “I told you. A panic attack. You know how susceptible I am to them. Dark hallway, maybe I felt closed in or something.” She shrugs. “I don’t know. I’m just a freak, I guess.”
That’s so much bullshit I almost can’t stand it, and from the looks Duke and Bear shoot me, I know they’re thinking the same. She should know by now this shit isn’t her fault. We’ve only scratched the surface of the things she’s dealt with in her life—of that I’m sure. I work my jaw to the side. She shouldn’t have to put on pretenses with us. I wonder what it was that set her off this time, and it almost feels like she’s hiding something, but now’s not the time to ask. We just need to know that she’s okay. “Kin—” I begin, but she throws a hand up to stop me.
“I’m really fine.” She looks up at me from under her long lashes.“You’reokay?”
I grit my teeth. “You noticed my freak-out, huh? I was hoping you missed it in your dash to escape.”
“No. I was aware.” She clutches at a spot over her heart. “I always know.” Tearing her eyes from me, she gives all of us a brief smile. “I’m not quite ready yet, so I guess we’d better get on with whatever you’re about to tell me.”
The tension in the room thickens to the point where we’re all suffocating on it. Duke points toward the balcony door and jerks his head in that direction, too. He’s right. We don’t know how our fathers are getting their intel, but it’d be a shame to make things easy on them.
We shuffle out the door, all four of us onto the balcony. Duke shuts the door behind him and leans against it.
I glance over the balcony, checking for eavesdroppers. “This is safer.”
Lennon mouths, “Is my room bugged or something?”
Bear shrugs, shaking his head. “We don’t know,” he says in a low voice.
Duke draws in a steadying breath as he focuses on Lennon. “I know this has the potential to make you mad, but we need you to do as we say tonight.” He pauses, his eyes closing on a wince. Dragging his gaze back to hers a moment later, he very matter-of-factly states, “We need to follow through with putting you up for auction.”
Lennon’s brow raises, and she squares her shoulders. “Obey.” The inhale through her nose that jerks her chest is the only outward sign of her unease.
Bear growls deep in his chest, leaning against the balcony railing. “No. We’reaskingyou to go along with it. We’ll try to find a distraction or a way to keep things from escalating. But if you end up being auctioned, we’ll make sure we have the highest bid. We won’t let it go any other way. If we can distract, though, and bypass ever having to bring you up on the stage with us, we will. In that case, I’ll make eye contact with you, I’ll blink a bunch of times, and when you see that, get the hell out of the ballroom and up to your bedroom as fast as you can. Lock yourself in, both sets of doors. Don’t open them for anyone. We’ll come to you through the balcony door when it's safe. That way you can see that it’s us. But whichever way this goes down, you’re going to be fine.”
“You’re sure?” Her delicate brow furrows.
I rake my teeth over my lower lip as I step forward and take her hand in mine. "We're going to be putting on one hell of a show tonight. You can expect us to be assholes, bastards really, and you're not going to like it. Weneedyou to go along with it. You don't have to like it. In fact, fight the fuck back andbepissed.” I let out a heavy sigh. “But when it comes down to it, we've got you. Don't forget that."
“Obviously, this has to do with last night.” She knows it does, it’s not even a question.
Bear pulls her against him. “It does. The OG Bastards have their own agenda, unfortunately, and because we’re bound to them, sometimes we have to do shit that we don’t want to do.” He lifts one of her curls, playing with it while he looks into her eyes. “Can you trust us? We’d never let anyone hurt you.”
Her gaze flits rapidly to each of us in turn, and she cocks her head to the side. “Okay. One pissed-off Lennon, coming right up.” She rolls her eyes. “It probably won’t take much. Be the bastards your fathers expect you to be.”
THIRTY-THREE
DUKE
It’stime to get this shit over with. I hurry down the hall toward the gigantic ballroom where everything is set up to do a last-minute check. We’ve got about twenty minutes before our guests descend. My gut is churning over this whole fucking thing. The mess with the OG Bastards demanding Lennon be included in the auction is one thing, but the addition of Elliot Ashford is something I don’t understand. The second Derek said it had something to do with Murdock Mikaelson… justfuck.I don’t see the connection yet, and that has me very leery. But now my eyes are wide open, waiting for someone to misstep and give us some clue what’s happening.
I pause outside the door when voices drift to me from inside.Oh, fuck.It’s Mason and… when the hell did Hunter get here?Goddammit!I almost barge in but hold myself back. If he says something about their dad, I’m interested in having firsthand knowledge of it, but if things begin to go south, I’ll step in. Hunter has a way of getting under Mason’s skin. It’s ugly.
“You wouldn’t be so fucking crazy if you weren’t to blame, and we all know it. Your cooperation is essential in getting Dad released for a crime we both know he’s not responsible for committing.”
There’s an awful silence, and I imagine a hateful stare down happening between them.Come on, Mason. Stand up to that fucker.
