Page 6 of Absolution (The Titans of Founder's Ridge 3)

“It is,” his green eyes harden and go cold, giving me a look I haven’t been on the receiving end of in years. “I want to be alone.”

“No.”

“Leave, Lilith!” he yells, his hands balling into fists.

Tears prick my eyes at the combination of his tone and his use of my given name instead of the nickname he’s always lovingly called me when we’re alone. I blink them back and straighten my spine.

“I know you are hurting right now, and I’m going to love you through that hurt,” I raise up onto my toes and kiss his cheek. “But I’m also not going to allow you to treat me like shit. I know my worth and so do you.” With that, I turn and walk back into our bedroom, closing the door behind me quietly.

I consider crawling in bed and going to sleep, but as much pain as I’m in, my mind is too restless. I want to know what happened today. I walk out into the living room, hoping Levi is still out there. He’s not, and neither are Griff and Claire. I walk down the hall and find Griff, Levi, and Ivy in her room.

“Hey,” I say as I walk in. They are all huddled up, Ivy’s cleaning off Levi’s face. “What are you guys talking about?”

“Everything that happened today.” Levi winces when Ivy runs an alcohol wipe over a cut on his face. “How’s Con?”

“He kicked me out. Wouldn’t let me take care of him.” I try to play off the hurt and not let it show, but Griff reaches over and rubs my back in a comforting circle.

“Give him time. I know he’s gone dark, but after what we heard today…” Levi trails off and looks between Ivy and me. “It was just bad, okay?”

“He told me what was said.”

“Then that’s all you need to know,” Levi says. I can tell by how dull his usually sparkly eyes are that there’s something he isn’t telling me. “I’m going to take a shower.”

Griff follows me out to the living room and sits down beside me on the couch.

“Have you taken you pain meds?” he asks.

“Not yet. I wanted to talk to Con before I did since they knock me out,” I say to his back as he stands to get water and my bottle of pills for me.

“Here,” he holds out the correct pills—because, of course, he memorized the times for each—a glass of water, and some crackers. When I don’t immediately take them, he leans down face to face with me. “Take the pills, drink the water, and eat the fucking crackers right now.”

“Calm down,” I roll my eyes at his commanding tone. “That domineering shit doesn’t work with me, you know.” I toss the pills in my mouth and swallow.

“Really?” He smirks at me. “Because you just took your meds.” He sits down on the opposite side of the couch and pulls my feet into his lap when I scowl at him. “Relax, let’s just watch a movie and let Con have some space for a bit.”

* * *

I wake up in a fog to familiar arms sliding under me and pulling me from the couch. As soon as Connor pulls me to his chest, I nuzzle against his neck. I try to wake enough to completely focus on the conversation I hear between him and Griff.

“You have to tell her,” Griff says in a hushed whisper.

“I’m not ready to tell anyone,” Con replies. “You’re the only person I’ve told about what my uncle used to do to me.”

“She deserves to know. You’ve always known you’ll have to tell her eventually. It’s why you fight. It’s why you don’t sleep.”

“Yeah, I’m aware that it’s the root of everything wrong with me,” Connor snaps while his fingers flex around my ribs and thighs. “Everything is so fucked because I’m holding on too tight to what happened to me as a kid.”

“Fuck off with the self-loathing and fix it.” Griff snarls in an aggressive whisper.

I force my eyes to flutter open and manage to mumble some incoherent syllables, enough to get them to stop fighting. They stare each other down for another minute before Griff kisses my temple and stalks down the hall to the guestroom he’s staying in.

Con carries me into our bedroom and lays me down on the bed. He hooks his fingers in my leggings and peels them off my legs, making sure not to move me around too much. He pulls my arms out of my hoodie one at a time and gently pulls it over my head. He moves to stand up, but I wrap my arm around his waist. Every innocent brush of his fingers over my bare skin has me waking up.

“I need you,” I say quietly.

He turns and stares down at me, his beautiful green eyes heavy with guilt and pain. Several pieces of his dark hair flop across his forehead. In the glow of the city lights from the window, he looks like a dark prince. His jaw ticks as his gaze burns into me.

“We shouldn’t,” he says as he leans down to kiss me. “You’re still healing.”

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