“I did forgive you. I have!” I growl. Everything in me quietens. “I can’t forgive you for this.” I’m shaking my head.
“I did it for us. To get you away from him. I needed you to think straight.”
“I was thinking straight. I’m thinking straight right now. Give me some credit!” I yell. “We will never be together. Never!”
I watch his face fall. He swipes a hand over his eyes. I think I might have caught the glint of a tear falling. I can’t feel sorry for him. Not after all this! “I don’t even know if we can be friends again.”
He makes this anguished noise. “Please, Raven. Please!”
“You went too far, West. Please, all I ask is that you sort yourself out. Go for help! Do it for you. Not for me or anyone else.”
“I’m fine!” he growls.
“You haven’t faced up to what happened to Raider and Mimi…to the shitty childhood you had. You need to own it.”
“What do you mean own it?” His voice is gruff and emotion-filled. “I live it every fucking day.”
“I mean deal with it…come to terms with it. I mean that you need to work through all of it.”
“I just want you, Raven. We can face all of it together. We can—”
“No! You are so filled with hate…you can’t see.”
“I see just fine. I see you…” He swipes at his face again, tearing his hand through his hair.
“I can’t see you for a while,” I say as I step backward. “A long while…”
“Bubbles…” he pleads.
“No! Don’t call me that! Don’t!” To think hearing him tease me with that stupid nickname, once upon a time, made my heart flutter. I saw a bumblebee and accidentally called it a bubble bee. Everyone laughed. It was hilarious. For West, the nickname stuck. He called me Bubble Bee or Bubbles for a long time after that. I don’t really remember when he stopped, or why he stopped. I know why he started up again, and I don’t like it. “I’m not the same person I was back then. I’ve changed. I’ve moved on. I really hope that you can, too. Goodbye, West. Look after yourself.” I walk out before he can say anything more. There isn’t anything that I need to hear. I’ve told West everything I came to say.
The guys go in to see West after me. Ten minutes later, we leave. The mood is somber. When we arrive back at the house, Stephan’s door is closed.
It’s the first time I’ve seen his door shut. It’s normally open just a tiny crack. I stand there just looking at it for a few moments, contemplating whether to knock softly or come back later.
“He doesn’t want to be disturbed,” Jarrod whispers from down the hall.
I nod, watching Jarrod walk away.
That’s odd. I get this funny feeling. Maybe Stephan is one of those guys who doesn’t want a relationship. The kind of guy who only picks women who are unavailable. If they do become available, then he doesn’t want them anymore. I know I’m overthinking this. I’m sure I’m being an idiot. He’s probably just tired and wants to rest. He’ll be up and about soon.
Anyway, I’m not sure I should dive into something new. Then I think about Stephan…his smile, how shy he is, how freaking cute he is. How he claimed me, stood up for me, and nearly died for me…and I hope I’m wrong.
24
Stephanus
Two days later…
I’m painting like a demon. In a way, it’s therapeutic. I’m feeling less shitty as I watch the fresh paint coat the wall behind my brush. I’m inside the bakery because I needed some privacy. It’s chaos outside with all the people and the press. Besides, Night and Tri have been throwing me these pitying looks. I’m sick of it. They think something is up with me. They’re assuming it’s something to do with Raven, and they would be right.
I’m a mess.
A fucking mess.
“Hey,” Bolt says from the doorway. “Wow!” he adds, looking at the wall I already painted. “That’s impressive.”
If I keep going like this, I’ll have most of the walls done within an hour. I keep going, hearing Bolt walk over to me. We made the decision to wait for Bolt to get back from his business trip, which happened to be very early this morning. I can scent why he’s late. It had nothing to do with any airport delays.
Sex.
Lucky bastard!
I’m happy for him. I honestly never thought I’d see Bolt so in love. Then again, I never thought that I would fall in love either, and I have. It’s only taken a week, but there it is. I’m essentially fucked.
“Is everything okay?” I hear the concern in his voice. Bolt has very little idea about what’s happened since he left…and a lot has happened. He called Tri, Night, and me to invite us to this bakery revamp press party. Tri told him that there had been an incident, that we ran into some non-humans but that everything was under control and back to normal. In other words, we lied through our fucking teeth. I turn to face Bolt. He looks so carefree and relaxed. No clue of the shitstorm that has taken place. We were going to wait until after this event at Buns to tell him, but I find I’m bursting at the seams. I can’t keep this inside. I need to talk about it, and fuck…he needs to know.
I look outside. Everyone is doing their thing. No one is paying us any attention. “You know that incident that happened last weekend?”
He nods.
“One of them touched me…a woman,” I remind him.
He nods again. “I take it you saw something.” He lifts his brows. “Something bad?”
I shake my head. “I got nothing from her.”
I see him frown. “What, then?”
“She did…see something.” His frown deepens. He’s probably wondering why no one filled him in on this. I go on, “She saw something from my future, and it wasn’t good. It wasn’t good at all!”
“Okay. What happened?” He folds his arms. “Why didn’t anyone tell me any of this? Are you in danger?”
“Night mentioned that this trip was very important to you. Something about an acquisition. That, and some time away with your girlfriend. You’ve gotten mad in the past about being interrupted,” I tell him.
Bolt narrows his eyes. “I guess that’s true, but I’ve changed. This looks serious. You look kind of spooked. Tell me about this premonition. Are you afraid it’s going to come true? How much can you trust this woman? This group? They might be non-humans, but that doesn’t mean they’re trustworthy.” He sounds like we did a few days ago.
I choke out a laugh. “The premonition almost came true,” I say. “And I can trust her.”
“What do you mean it almost came true? What happened? I feel like I’m missing something here.”
I tell Bolt about how Raven had the vision at the MMA fight. About their car breaking down. I give a brief overview of each person, and then I tell him that the men are dragon demigods.
I watch his facial expression change to disbelief. “What the fuck?” he snarls, quickly lowering his voice and looking outside. “There are more dragon demigods? You guys didn’t think to tell me this?” I haven’t even told him about Zale yet, and already Bolt looks…intense. His Adam’s apple works. I can see that his mind is working too. It’s working overtime.