Page 45 of Our Deceptive Heat

“I don’t want to disappear, Mako, but I can’t make that promise. If I have to go, I have to go. You’ve seen what my future looks like.”

“That’s never going to happen. I won’t allow it.”

I almost laugh, but then I’m yanked back into his arms, and he’s holding me tight, and I feel like maybe he could protect me from all the evils that come my way.

And then I remember that my dad owns them.

And I remember how hopeless the situation really is.

Chapter fourteen

Envy

Regret is the heaviestburden, but regretting you is breaking me in two- Envy Fate

Tyr is right behind me as I storm into the hotel room. I whirl on him and shove him back.

“Back off!”

“Not going to happen, not now, not ever.”

I snarl at him, but the asshole just snarls back at me. I’m so mixed up and confused about everything.

He wraps an arm around my waist and presses his face to my shoulder. Tyr is shorter than me but stronger, his body more compact. He didn’t always look like that. When we were kids, he was as scrawny as they come.

But when he hit seventeen, he started growing and growing. Muscles that he keeps effortlessly, with ease. While I have to work out for hours to keep mine.

We’ve known each other forever. I know his thoughts better than he does, but he knows all of my tells.

“I’m sorry.”

I heave a sigh, half exasperated, half amused. Just like that, my anger recedes, and I put a hand over his arm and lean back against him.

“We need to help her.”

Tyr tenses.

“She made our career. Without those songs, we never would have become who we became. We owe our success to her.”

Tyr is silent.

“How bad was it that night?” I ask finally. I hate to ask, but I need to know. It’s been three and a half weeks of us dancing around the subject. Awkward silences, and tense working environments, and these fucking pictures of these old men hurting my Ryn in my head all night.

“They barked her into stripping and sitting on his lap. She had no ability to fight him. It probably wouldn’t have been much longer, and she would have been…”

He can’t say the words. It’s okay, my mind fills it in for him.

I close my eyes. “Okay. We’re going to help her. Tell Digs and Mako to prepare for some rest and relaxation. We have time in between schedules.”

Tyr reluctantly lets go of me. “We don’t have time-”

“I’m not making a request, Tyr. This is me telling you, we’re going home for a couple of days.” I let out a growl and whirl back. “And buy her another phone. Mako should never have destroyed hers. I don’t know why she hasn’t replaced it.”

“She’s got the work one.”

“Why did she have a personal one, then? She’s got someone who makes her feel safe. We have no right to take that from her!” I say in a harsher voice than I mean to.

I go into the bathroom and peel my sweaty clothes off and step into the shower. I stand under the scorching spray, trying to wash the stress away.

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