“You’re right, because you don’t share anything.”
The corner of his lip curled in a quick half-grin. “You haven’t asked.”
Rori leaned back, shattering the comfortable cocoon. She stared up into Thaddeus’s eyes as he straightened, that wicked smirk holding tight to his delectable mouth. “Like you’d be forthcoming.”
“How soon we forget just howforthcomingI can be when asked a question.” He chuckled, a sound that teased more than her ears. “Did we not discuss a certain metal earlier this morn? Did that not come from your inquiry?”
Rori blinked, replaying their earlier conversation at the beach before it turned sour, like all of their interactions. She had half-jokingly asked him how to kill a Fae. He had surprisingly offered her an answer. She had been of half a mind to call him a liar, but Fae couldn’t lie. They merelytwisted words to avoid fibs and chose omission when backed into a corner.
“Ah. That’s what I thought.”
A sharp breath fled her as she stormed past him. “You’re infuriating.”
“A brilliant fire it stokes in you.”
God help her, infuriating he may be, but the inferno he fanned to life was debilitating.
“Yeah, okay. Like that wasn’t hot or anything.”
Rori spun on Cassy, sending her friend back a couple of steps. Cassy’s eyes widened, her excitement draining. Before she unleashed her pent-up frustration, she continued back to the walk-in cooler. If nothing else, it would chill her blood and help her think clearly.
Cassy followed on her heels. “Rori, what happened? Do I need to talk to Steve? Is his brother a nutcase?”
“Yes!” Rori snapped as she smacked her way through the plastic curtain and whipped around. Cassy shoved the cooler door closed, concern flooding her dark eyes. Rori paced the small space, fisting her hands in her hair. “He’s a fucking lunatic! A gorgeous, godly lunatic, Cassy! Hot and cold and everything in between! He’s everywhere I am, and everywhere I’m not!” She hit the heel of her palm to her forehead, clenched her teeth, and dropped into a squat, curling over her knees, folding in on herself. “He’s maddening and infuriating and I wish you could see him for what he truly is because it’s all a façade! Everything about them both!”
“Rori?”
She cracked. The impending mental break she’d known was coming.
Cassy’s arm gently came around her shoulders.
“Honey, I think you should go home. I’ll talk to Carl. Brandon and I can take over your tables and get you out ofhere, okay? We’ll say you got sick suddenly and can’t be serving tables. You’ve already been cut?—”
The cooler opened. Rori curled herself tighter.
“Hermosa?” The air shifted along her open side as Brandon crouched beside her. “What the fuck happened?”
“We need to get her home.”
“I’m already cut,” he said. “My tables are done. I’ll be right back.”
Rori began to rock. Why the fuck did she burn so bad? Why did she want to run back out to find Thaddeus? Why didn’t he stoke the fear inside her like Rich did? Why couldn’t she protect herself against him?
Rori squeezed her eyes shut, but Thaddeus plagued her mind. All she saw was the angelic Fae man. All she sensed was his strength, his magic, the secrets locked deep within him that he tried to keep out of reach. The confliction of emotions, the push and pull of her heart and soul. All the while fearing for her life that, one day, when she least expected it, Rich would destroy anything and everything she might have salvaged for another. Or Thaddeus would bring upon her the ultimate disappointment.
A low groan escaped her throat. Cassy rubbed her arm, keeping close as she fought back the urge to scream. So many emotions. So much turmoil. It wasn’t fair how calm and controlled he could be. It wasn’t fair she was the one who suffered because he didn’t know how to keep his fucking distance.
It wasn’t fair that he chiseled away at the haphazardly constructed barriers she fought so hard to constantly reinforce.
“I’ll have a talk with Steve, okay? I’ll tell him to keep Ryan away from you. None of us will let anything happen to you. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I thought it was a good idea?—”
“Itisa good idea. Too good of an idea and I hate it because he’s perfect and I’m broken! He will never understand because he’s too fucking full of himself?—”
“Whoa. You’re not making sense. First, you’renotbroken?—”
Rori whipped her head up. Cassy’s brows wrinkled, her lips pulled tight. “It makes perfect sense, but we’re nothing alike. Cael insists Thaddeus is my soul mate?—”
“Cael? Who’s Cael? Thaddeus?”
