Page 67 of We Are Yours
Her concerned stare flew to him as she pleaded, “Kraven, please…”
Now that made me stumble back.
It wasn’t my name out of her mouth that I heard first. It was my brother’s, and that was a slow death on its own. It cut deep into my flesh, right through my bones, and lodged itself into my heart.
That was when it hit me.
That was when I understood.
It wasn’t just his name. It was her first words that belonged to him.
I stepped away from both of them and took a deep breath.
This wasn’t a surrender. It was a refusal.
“Julius,” she whispered, knowing I figured it out.
Is this why her face is filled with guilt?
It wasn’t my brother doing something wrong.
It was her.
Is this why he said he’s going to show me how little I mean to her?
My glare slid to Kraven, who stood there frozen with blood on his lip and hands at his sides, shoulders squared but not defensive. He wasn’t gloating. He didn’t have to.
“It’s not what you think, Julius,” Isla coaxed.
Kraven simply added, “I already told him that, but maybe he’ll believe you, Kitty.”
I winced.
The nickname wasn’t a blade. It was a bullet, and my brother was holding the gun.
“It’s exactly what I think, but not because of him.” I pointed at Kraven and then gestured to her. “You spoke, and it wasn’t to me first. After all of these months, it takes my brother one day to get you to use words. What the fuck?”
“I… I… I…”
“You can’t even form a sentence for me?” I shook my head in pure disappointment, the room caving in on me. It just kept getting worse.
Tunneling my vision back to Kraven, I demanded, “How about next time you’re trigger-happy, you do it without her between us?”
With that, I stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind me, and jumped on my bike.
Isla ran after me, trying to stop me from backing out of the driveway.
“Julius, please…” she begged beside my bike, her voice trembling against the engine rumbling. “Please… just let me explain…”
God, I want to.
Every part of me wanted to listen to what she had to confess. However, I kept thinking Kraven might know it all already, and I couldn’t see straight with just imagining that, let alone it actually being true. I spent all these months being patient, thinking it’d be worth it, that it’d lead to something. Not wanting to force her, I needed it to come naturally from her. I’d hoped that, in the end, she’d turn to me, yet I was slapped in the face with it being the furthest thing from the truth.
He devoured what I was starving for and had her speaking in only twenty-four hours.
She trusted him in one fucking day.
I explained, “I can’t listen to you right now. If I do, I won’t hear a word you say. Just give me space.”
