Page 228 of Bound By Her

A wide grin stretched across his face as warmness bloomed in his chest, and a relief spread through his body.

She knew. She had known for a long time.

Their shared moments suddenly feeling tangible and real. Gazing into her eyes, he saw glimpses of the vulnerability beyond them.

“This mug was my mother’s,” she said, a frown crinkling at the edge of her lips. “It’s the only thing I have of hers.” She paused, looking into its contents. “I don’t know why I tell you these things. I shouldn’t want to, but I do.”

“I don’t want to play games with you,” he said, quietly.

Her hands stilled around the mug, and her perfect green eyes met his.

“Then don’t,” she said.

She wanted to hide, to conceal the parts of her that she thought made her weak, but Bryson saw her. And those parts didn’t make her weak.

Adria was anything but. She had a complexity about her, just waiting to be explored and cherished.

Bryson loved the way she pinched the bridge of her nose when she was annoyed and nibbled her cheek when she needed to think. How she meticulously thought out every item of clothing she wore and planned damn near everything. Bryson couldn’t wait to learn more.

Learn the things that he couldn’t find out by watching.

“Seth and Kaydon told me what you did for them,” she said.

The comment took him off guard.

Adria must have sensed his confusion because she clarified, “How you protected Kaydon from those older men and Seth from his father.”

“Did Seth tell you I threatened to kill his father if he didn’t come with us?” Bryson’s voice was thick.

Adria’s eyes widened, but she stayed quiet.

“Seth wasn’t going to leave, not without his mother,” Bryson said. “And I could see it in her eyes. She was never going to leave that man. Some people are born to be the victim. But that wasn’t Seth.”

“You did what you had to do to keep him safe,” Adria said, surprising him for the second time.

“And Kaydon, I liked him.”

The words poured out. Even if he wanted to, Bryson didn’t think he could stop.

“I was jealous of my brother.”

It was just as horrible to hear out loud.

“When Kaydon came to live with us, I watched themget close and when Luca died…” Bryson couldn’t continue.

The couch shifted next to him as Adria joined him.

“You loved your brother,” she said.

He nodded. “I worshiped him.”

Bile rose in his throat.

“I was angry when Kaydon didn’t hang around me like he did with Luca. I followed him one day, and when I found him with those men, I was jealous.”

Kaydon saw him as some hero, but he was no hero. He was a scared kid, who didn’t know how to talk to anyone.

Adria was silent next to him, and when he gathered the courage to look at her, she said, “You think you are the only one? Who had the right action with the wrong emotion?”

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