“You can’t ignore me forever.”
The voice startled me, and the weights of the chest press machine slammed together as I lost my grip on the handles. My jaw tightened as Uriel came to a stop in front of me, arms crossed over his slim chest. The gym was pretty empty this morning, but I’d been too focused on my exercises to notice his arrival. Jai and Noel paused in their sparring, but neither made a move to intervene. Not that I needed them to; I could take care of myself.
“Who said I’m ignoring you?” I wiped my sweaty hands on my workout shorts before returning them to the arms of the machine.
Uriel blinked. “We need to talk.”
“I’m good,” I said, the muscles in my arms and chest burning as I engaged the equipment, lifting the weights stacked behind me.
For a moment, hurt flashed through his sea-green eyes, but he covered it quickly. “Fine. I want to talk.”
“Then talk,” I grunted the words as I continued my reps. “But do it somewhere else. I’m busy.”
“I’m going to do it right here,” he ground out between clenched teeth, and his irritation sparked amusement in my chest. “And you’re going to listen.”
Releasing the handles, I ignored the clang of weights and scrambled from my seat. “I’m not your sub. You can’t tell me what to do.”
I made to stalk away, but Uriel grabbed my arm, tugging me a stop. “I may not be your Dom, but I’m still your mentor.”
“Are you?” I challenged, and he jerked away from me like I’d burned him.
“Yes,” he said, though he sounded unsure.
“Well, then take this as me officially stepping down as your apprentice,” I said harshly, and he flinched. But then his bossy confidence returned, and he set his shoulders.
“I get it, Riley. Okay? I get you’re angry, and you have every right to be. But you can’t just cut me out like this. That’s not fair.”
“Fair? Really?” He held up his hands placatingly, but I shook my head. “You know what’s not fair? Being denied the truth at every turn. Not because of anything I’d said or done, but because of something I couldn’t even help or control. My DNA dictated that I couldn’t be trusted, so you lied.
“You were my friend, Uriel. You were my—” I swallowed the burn of tears in my throat. “You were like my father, okay? I thought I meant something to you, but I was wrong. You were just like everyone else.”
“That’s not fair!” he barked, cheeks flushing with anger. “Don’t you dare say that you meant nothing to me. That’s bullshit, Riley, and you know it.”
“If you cared, you would have—”
“You trained with me. You ate at my table and lived in my home. You were part of us, okay? And maybe you’re not mine, because you were theirs first. But you’re mine in every way that matters.”
“Stop.” I shook my head fiercely. “Just stop!”
But he didn’t stop.
“Abram was a fool to give you up. For your sake, I wish he hadn’t. I wish you’d had the chance to know your parents. But selfishly, I’m glad he did what he did. Because it means I get to have you. It means I get to love you in the way he should have, even if I fucked it up.
“I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but I’ll do everything in my power to earn it,” he said, his voice strained with feeling. “Because you’re mine, kid. You hear me? Even if you fight me, even if you don’t want me, I’m still gonna love the shit out of you, and you can’t stop me.”
His chest was heaving by the time he finished. His eyes were wide, and sweat pebbled on his upper lip. He looked halfway between punching me in the face and bursting into tears. I’d never seen him so overcome with emotion, and his lack of control made him look so inconceivably young.
“You love me?” My voice broke, and Uriel clenched his jaw.
He nodded. Just once. “Yeah, Riley. I love you, okay? You’re my friend. You’re my apprentice. And maybe I don’t know what it means to be a father, but you’re mine in all the ways that count.”
“I hate you for lying to me,” I said.
“I know.”
“I don’t want to forgive you,” I said.
“I know.”
“This doesn’t change anything. You can’t just apologize and think everything’s okay.”
We stared at each other, and he said, “I know.”
“Good.” I rubbed the back of my sweaty neck.
Uriel said, “I’m gonna hug you now, you brat.”
I said, “Okay.”
Closing the distance between us, he hauled me into a tight embrace. He was shorter than me, but not by much. I easily buried my face in his neck, inhaling his citrus scent as my fingers twisted in the back of his shirt.
“Are we still friends?” he asked, his breath hot on my ear. “Please, Riley, tell me we’re friends. I don’t want to live in a world where I’m not your friend, okay?”
Fighting back tears, I shrugged. “Yeah. Okay. We’re, uh, we’re friends.”
Somehow, he hugged me tighter, nearly cutting off my ability to inhale, but I melted into him. Because he was my friend. He was my mentor-father-brother, and I hated the idea of losing what we had. I wasn’t ready to forgive him completely, but it was a step in the right direction.
“No more lies,” I said into his neck. “No more.”
“Okay, Riley. No more lies.” He pulled back and cupped my cheeks. “I didn’t do right by you. None of us did. But we didn’t do it to hurt you. Not intentionally. Can you at least believe me on that?”
I could, and I told him so. In their own twisted way, they believed they were doing the right thing. There was still a lot I didn’t know, and I wasn’t sure if I’d ever truly understand every decision the Council had made. But they had their reasons, even if I didn’t agree with them.
“Listen, I’m not here as any kind of emissary for the Council, okay? I’m here for you, to fix this. But I can’t help but ask…” Uriel drifted off, and I frowned.
“What?”
“Are you refusing to see the Council because of me?” Of all the things I thought he’d ask, that was one of the last. “I know that you don’t have many reasons to trust any angels right now, but they have legitimate reasons to speak with you. And if you’re ignoring them because of me, I—”
“Wait, hold on.” I interrupted him, thoroughly confused. “The new Council hasn’t requested to speak with me. Gideon said they were giving me time to, you know, get better.”
At that, Uriel’s brows furrowed. “The Council’s been requesting an audience with you for weeks. Gideon said you didn’t want to talk to them, that you weren’t ready.”
My heart dropped to my toes, and I fisted my hands at my side as aggravation sizzled in my veins. “Gideon never told me they wanted to talk to me.”
“Well, shit.” Uriel raked a hand through his hair, grimacing in apology. “Sorry, I didn’t mean… I was just trying to… and now you’re pissed at your boyfriend. Fuck. Sorry.”