I start walking away without saying anything, and suddenly he’s out of the car and whirling me around to face him.
“Are you upset about Wendy going with me?” he asks softly. “She’s my assistant, and it’s all I could do to get them to allow a human to go with me. They don’t like threats, so they said three hybrids, one of which was requested to be you.”
Me specifically?
“I don’t understand why I can’t just go with you instead of Clay,” I accidentally release, and his smile returns.
“Do you want to go with me?” he sizzles out while pulling me to his body, and his lips almost find mine before I pull back.
“I do want to go with you. Does that mean I can?”
He smirks more, and then his lips press against my forehead before he releases me completely.
“No. I’m going in without you in case it’s dangerous.”
“I’m more resistant to injury than she is,” I snark.
“I’m in love with you, not her,” he quickly retorts, and then he kisses me without warning before I can object.
I fall into the kiss, and his hands grip me tightly for a moment before releasing me all together again.
“I’ll see you tomorrow. Don’t be jealous,” he playfully adds, and I roll my eyes as he climbs into the car.
Way to be obvious, Araya.
I watch as they disappear out of the gates, and then I walk in to go find Clay and my new contacts. Brazen is propped up by the doorway, and my stomach sinks to the ground when I realize he just saw that interaction.
“It’s him. You’re choosing him… again. Why?” he asks with a broken tone.
Tears start dripping from my eyes, and he pulls my hand in his before pulling me to his body.
“Don’t cry, baby. Just tell me why it’s him.”
“I don’t know why it’s him. It… it just is. I love you, Brazen. I really, really love you, but it’s still Hale.”
He sighs out as his lips press against my forehead, and I can feel his pain radiating from his breath.
“I’m not giving up just yet, baby,” he murmurs softly. “You’ve come back to me before.”
Not this time. I’m so sorry, Brazen.
“Don’t do that. Don’t continue to wait for me. You deserve so much better than me, Brazen.”
“There’s no such thing as someone better than you, baby.”
More tears roll out as I bury my head in his chest, and he pulls me tighter to him to comfort me when I’m the one breaking his heart. His lips continue to kiss the top of my head as his breaths grow more painful.
“Let’s go get your eyes covered,” he murmurs softly.
I just nod, and he pulls me inside the building promising to be empty without Hale in it. I feel relieved to have finally realized who I truly want, and I feel like a fool for fighting it so long, and dragging Brazen along for the ride. He should hate me right now. He shouldn’t be concerned, worried, or even thoughtful at all. I’m so fucked up in so many ways.
“We’ll be there in about thirty minutes,” Clay says into the phone.
“It’s actually pretty nice here. If I wasn’t gifted, I would consider living here,” Hale murmurs softly. “How’s Araya?”
“She’s a little nervous about running into someone who might recognize her after the latest fiasco. Her outfit is a little out of the usual too, but we might stop at the marketplace once we get there,” Clay chuckles out at the end.
“What happened to her clothes?”
