Page 96 of Still Yours
“Did you do it?” I snarl.
Aaron’s lips purse. His forehead wrinkles. If I weren’t so overflowing with rage, I might give him points for his honest surprise.
“Do what?” he asks.
“Don’t give me that.” I push past him and stalk inside. “You basically have trackers put into me. You know exactly what I’m referring to.”
The room appears untouched, the king-sized bed with thick down covers made up without a wrinkle, Aaron’s open suitcase showcasing perfectly folded clothing, and his open wardrobe containing a rack of suits. It’s just like Aaron not to live in a room.
“Oh. That.” Aaron shuts the door and turns to me.
“It’s a lot more thanthat.I had to peel Noa off the pavement this morning after the press mobbed her. The pictures they must’ve gotten, the way she had to find this out…” I scrape my fingers through my hair and wheel around. “I’ve never seen her like this. And it’s all because of me.”
Aaron holds a hand to his bare chest. “I had nothing to do with it.”
“Goddammit, Aar,” I seethe. “Did you leak her existence to the press?”
Aaron considers my question.
That silent hesitation turns into his greatest mistake.
I leap for him, teeth bared, and slam him into the wall. He lets me, his expression benign as I shove my face into his.
“How could you? You are more than my employee. More than a friend.Family.You turned into my fucking brother, and you sell me out? For what?What?” I yell, spittle flying into his face.
My chest is tight. It’s hard to breathe. My rib cage feels like it wants to crack open and rid itself of my swollen, infected heart.
Aaron doesn’t flinch. He stares me right in the face. “If you think for one second I would sell you out like that, I shouldn’t work for you. Nor am I the brother you always wanted. You don’t let anyone in, Stone. Ever. Including me.”
My lips curl. Another snarl escapes my throat. I slam him back by the shoulders once more, then whirl away, scrubbing my face. My skin is so damnedhot, my blood boiling. Noa’s shattered expression imprints on the backs of my eyelids every time I blink.
I take a breath. “Then who? Who could do this?”
“Who do you think?”
I peer at him over my shoulder. Aaron lifts off the wall, righting his towel as he strides toward me, his skin reddened where I grabbed him.
“Who has a serious vendetta against you, Stone? Your ways have made you a lot of enemies, but there are two I can think of that have you at the top of their shit lists at the moment.”
I pinch my bottom lip as I stare at him. “Ravynn and Bradley Mitchell.”
Aaron moves to the closet. “Mind if I change so I don’t get beat up while in a towel?”
“I’m past wanting to torture you.”
“That’s a positive, at least. And yes, I saw the article the same time you did.” Hangers scrape against metal as he flips through his suits. “I wanted to be certain of my hunch before talking to you, so I made some calls. It looks like Ravynn’s exposé on you is more in depth than you and I thought.”
“That makes no sense. I never spoke about Noa to Ravynn. Ever.”
Noa was a wound I never thought would heal. When it did, she became pink scar tissue, the kind that puffs up and you always feel, the type that never goes away. She stayed inside me, my secret scar, and I never spoke of her to my city crowd. Aaron hadn’t even heard of her until recently, and that was mostly because he banished me to Falcon Haven while he sorted my problems out.
Problems that I’m coming to realize, I should’ve handled myself.
Aaron chooses a navy blazer and slacks, pulling them out. “I’ll call her people, see if we can come to some kind of arrangement.”
“No.”
Aaron pauses while laying his suit carefully on the bed. “Come again?”
