Page 82 of The Last Ones Standing, Part Two

He begins to strip out of his clothes as Ny glares at him. Once naked, he moves to stand behind her and lowers into the water, taking her with him. I nod and start to come out of my soaked clothes, tossing them outside the tub.

Once I’m done, I lower and sit, my arms folded over my chest as I glare at Nyla. I’m going to be honest and say I’m not really mad at her. Yes, I’m frustrated with her, but my real anger lies somewhere else.

That call from Gianni has returned my attention to how I’ve been manipulated by my parents. I haven’t taken the time to deal with that fully yet.

I work my jaw. This is the moment we’ve been waiting for. I remain silent because I meant what I said.

Jace needs to speak up as much as I need to fix things with Ny. Now is as good a time as any since he’s already opened his mouth.

* * *

Jace

These two have a right to the anger filling this room, but they need to figure this shit out.Now.

“Ny, there’s a lot going on you don’t know about.”

“So what? I’m supposed to allow him to choke me because of some bullshit I don’t know.”

“I’m not saying that. What I’m saying is you might understand his reaction if you knew how much he needs our loyalty.”

“He’s always had our loyalty,” she murmurs with her arms across her chest.

I pull her against my chest and hold her close. “Ours, yes, but everyone else has used him for their own needs. Things didn’t have to be this way.”

Ny sits up and turns to look at me. “What are you talking about?”

I nod to Gio. “He should tell you. There’s a lot. Things I’m still learning.”

She turns to Gio slowly. “I’m listening. What don’t I know?”

“For all the control I’ve thought I’ve had, my mother and father, fuck, even Nonno have been dancing me around all my life. They’ve been drip-feeding me information to suit them.”

Gio continues to tell her all we’ve learned since the night of the car bombing. I sit, tracing her collarbone with my fingertips while he speaks, simply content to have her back in my arms. At some point, Gio lifts her foot into his hands and starts to rub it. Her body sags into mine as she allows his touch to soothe the tension out.

I release some of the water when it chills while Gio fills in the gaps for Nyla. She sits listening as I add more warm water. By the time Gio is done, my head is reeling like it’s the first time I’m hearing all this all over again.

“There, now you know what we know,” Gio says when he gets to the end.

“Oh my God, I knew he reminded me of someone. I’ve met Gianni. I don’t think he’s a threat to you like Nonno said. He has a thing for Holly, by the way.

“As for everything else. Wow, G, you should have called me about all of this. I can’t imagine how you feel.”

Gio purses his lips. “I tried to call you, remember?”

“That’s not fair. All I knew was that my car was blown up. I was a little mad at you. Not to mention, I had things of my own to figure out.”

“Then make it make sense for me, baby. How was I supposed to talk to you?”

“Like you would have anyway. You know I would have come back and blown all this shit up. You didn’t want me here.”

“You’re wrong. I knew what you would do, but we needed to talk.”

“Then talk to me,” she says, her voice full of emotion. “What doyouwant from me?”

I look over at Gio and nod. It’s time, this is where we mend the bridge. He sits back against the tub and folds his arms over his chest, then gives me a nod back. I inhale.

For once, I’m going to take the lead. I’m not going to suppress my alpha for theirs. It’s the way this has to be.

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