Page 83 of Love Lives
"I guess I misjudged how much you cared about activating that artifact. My bad." Aldrich considered saying more, like how he knew how close Remy had come to going along with his plan... but would it be wise to say that?
Only if he wanted to sleep on the floor tonight.
And every night from now on.
"I do care about that," Remy argued. "It's not like I don't want to save everyone. It's not like I don't give a fuck. I've been trying to get that damn séance to work all night until you waltzed in here with that bastard."
"That bastard whose life is apparently more important than what we're trying to do here." Aldrich knew Remy wasn't exactly mortal, but his logic sure was. It made no sense at all. He'd been offered a chance to save the people he cared about, but instead he'd chosen to let his grandmother's killer go free.
Not a choice Aldrich would ever have made. Something he knew for a fact.
"You'll never get it." Remy’s tone changed from angry to frustrated. "Because you don't know what it's like to care about something else more than yourself. Because you're too scared to remember what it's like to be mortal."
"I'm not scared of anything."
Remy snorted. "You ran away like a child the last time I showed you a memory."
Aldrich had not done that and he was not a child and it was entirely unfair of Remy to talk about things he knew exactly nothing about. "You don't get to judge me for that."
"After the shit you just pulled, I get to judge you for whatever I want."
Aldrich stepped closer to Remy, not about to let the mortal have the last word in this. "Does that mean I get to judge you for wanting me to kill that guy?"
Remy said nothing in response. He only stared at Aldrich, the line of his lips so tight it might as well have been carved from stone. But Aldrich knew the only reason he wasn't saying anything was because he had nothingtosay. Because Aldrich was right.
"Yeah, I saw that," Aldrich said, even though he knew he should just shut up. "For a moment there, you wanted him dead."
"But I didn't act on that." Remy scowled. Aldrich took another step closer, until they were almost touching. Remy didn't back away, but then, Aldrich hadn’t expected him to.
"The only reason you didn’t act is because you don't have what it takes to be a killer," Aldrich murmured.
"I don't want to have what it takes to be a killer."
"And yet you're sleeping with one." Aldrich rested his hands on Remy's hips, digging his fingers in ever so slightly. "You can't do that and then also freak out about the subject. Not after everything I've told you."
"It's different," Remy insisted. "But you won't get that as long as you're afraid to feel things."
"I'm afraid to feel things? That’s rich, coming from you.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Remy claimed, but even as the words left Remy’s mouth, Aldrich knew that the mortal was lying. He could tell by the tension in his shoulders, the set of his jaw.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about.”
“Like you’re any better.” Remy’s eyes bore into his. "You’re too scared to find out why you killed your family, so instead you just keep on killing and telling yourself that it's okay."
"I don't kill to distract myself."
"Maybe not anymore."
"Not back then either. I had my orders." And thank fuck he didn't have orders anymore.
"Your sire is gone," Remy said. "If you don't want to, you don't have to kill another person ever again."
"I never minded, though." What was it that Remy wasn't getting about that? "I didn't just become this way because I was turned. I was always a killer."
"No, you weren't. You can't have been." There was a challenge in Remy's eyes, and Aldrich knew the mortal wasn't going to back down easily. "You can't prove me wrong," Remy insisted. "Not as long as you're too scared to confront your past."
Remy was trying to bait him, Aldrich knew that, but damn if he could resist. With his thumb, he traced the scar on the mortal’s chin. "You want me to bite you that badly?" It wasn’t a bad idea. In fact, it was a fantastic idea. Bite Remy until he was too blissed out to remember their stupid argument, then throw him on the bed and fuck him.
