Page 33 of Sweetheart: Part One

“Would you feel better if I made something up?” Ebony was asking.

I folded my arms, watching Vex silently for a moment as she fixed her gaze on Drake and Ebony. The door drifted open a little more, and then her eyes met mine.

She froze, and for a moment, the argument faded to silence.

Fuck, she was cute. Silver-brown hair was sleep-mussed, and she was in an oversized black top, with a band logo across it. It reached her thighs, and the stretch of her bare legs demanded attention right down to the fluffy ankle socks. Her face was free of makeup, and she looked innocent without it; soft in a way I wasn’t expecting.

She seemed nervous, too, and I had to fight the mad urge to scoop her up and take her back to my room while the others fought it out. I could protect her there.

I was pack lead, Ebony didn’t fuck with me.

Not overtly, anyway.

Then she broke my gaze, and the urge shattered. I realised the rest of the hallway had fallen silent, everyone noticing her presence.

“Vex…” Drake’s voice was hoarse. Ebony’s expression was even stiffer as he stared at her.

“I uh…” Vex glanced between us. “Didn’t mean to interrupt…”

“Wearerather rudely having a fight outside your room,” Rook snorted.

Vex didn’t seem to have a response to that. Drake was stepping toward her, but I could see the apprehension in her eyes as she looked to Ebony.

How long had she been there?

Had she heard what he’d been doing?

Likely, by her expression.

“Let’s go back inside,” Drake was saying to her. She nodded, lip trapped in her teeth, glancing around at us one last time.

The door shut, and we were left in a rather stunned silence.

I felt a spark of Ebony’s fury through the bond, something he rarely let slip out of his control. It wasn’t what I expected. It wasn’t the kind of fury that set me on edge. If anything, it felt wounded. And I doubted Ebony felt wounded often enough to be able to even recognise that.

I reached out to put my hand on his shoulder, but he flinched away. “We should talk—”

“Like fuck we should.” He took a step back, then vanished down the hallway to his room.

I sighed, turning back to Rook.

“What the fuck is going on?” I asked.

Rook shrugged, a slight grin on his face. “You want to shake things up? Sign that contract.” He scratched his chin, eyes darting back to the hallway down which Ebony had just vanished. “I might do it out of pure curiosity.”

He was wild, sometimes immature, and off the rails, but he’d been my best friend for as long as I could remember.

I snorted. “You aren’t worried about what he just did?”

Rook shrugged. “It’s Ebony. He doesn’t cross real lines unless he knows it won’t blow up in his face. Drake just drew that line pretty fucking hard, if you ask me.”

He wasn’t wrong. Drake had always had something special with Ebony. Something I’d never even had.

I was his older brother. The one who’d spent his whole life shackling him to enough social pillars and obligations that he couldn’t cause any real damage. Rook was my friend, and he’d never got on with Ebony.

But Drake had been Ebony’s find. He was the youngest, the most damaged, and I’d always got the impression Ebony felt a sense of responsibility for him. Perhaps much more in claim than care, but it wassomething. I’d go for anything when it came to Ebony. Which was exactly why Vex was an insistent presence in my mind, and had been since she’d arrived.

“Do you actually want a Sweetheart around?” I asked, eyeing Rook again. It was a serious commitment. She would be as good as pack for the duration of her contract.

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