She frowns. “Is that what Dante told you?” She steps closer. I don’t back up.
“I just said she might be better off in a real community,” she murmurs. “With real men. Not killers.”
Her mouth opens and closes, and for the first time, she doesn’t seem sure of the script.
My hand tightens on the grip.
“Real men?” I laugh, feeling my blood boil. “You mean the ones who’d rape her the second she said no? The ones who’d fill her up like a fucking incubator?”
“I wouldn’t let that happen!” she snaps, waving her hands, eyes looking maniacal. Dante was right; she lost sight of reality.
“Roman would use her to get us. He would kill her for it!” Fuck, can’t she see that?
“I misjudged Roman.” She is quieter now. Eyes on mine. Her mouth trembles like she’s about to say more.
“Oh, really?” I lower my gun but keep it to my side. “We gave you security, food, shelter. We never asked for your body or Aspen’s.” My jaw twitches.
“I know that!” She steps closer. “I thought I could,”
“Rule the base? Be the queen of some fucked-up community?” I shake my head. “You really think Roma-”
Shot.
Fuck.
Pain punches through my side. I drop to my knees, breath stolen, hand pressing against my ribs. Blood pours.
Roman steps out from the trees, slow, smiling like a fucking vulture.
“I told him you wouldn’t shoot,” Bryn says sweetly. “Not because you didn’t want to but because Aspen would never forgive you.”
Roman’s arm wraps around her waist. His gun now aimed at my head.
“You were right, baby,” Roman croons. “Love made him stupid.”
I breathe through the pain; fingers slick with blood.
“You know why I didn’t want her to fuck you that night?” Bryn says, almost tenderly. “Because I knew if she did, you’d fall. You’d be harder to control. But if she never touched you, you would eventually seek me out.”
I laugh loud and dark; she freezes.
“Bryn,” I breathe, looking up at her with a smile that tastes like iron. “I’d rather stick my dick in a shark’s mouth than touch you.”
I spit blood in her face. She slaps me, hard, my head snapping to the side, but I’m still laughing.
“You know what she and I have?” I growl. “Something you’ll never understand. Or have. Or kill.”
I straighten. My back is screaming. My side drenched in blood.Roman steps forward, gun aimed.
“Go ahead, motherfucker,” I breathe.
I close my eyes. And she’s there. Her hands. Her voice. The way she says my name.
“I love you, Aspen,” I whisper.
And I wait for the shot.
Aspen
