Page 82 of Alluring Darkness
With shock still ringing in my skull, I nod jerkily.
“Answer.”
“I understand,” I blurt out.
“Good. Now, thank me for sparing your worthless lives.”
“Thank you for sparing our worthless lives.”
Eli lets out a dark chuckle. He watches me for a little while longer, as if drinking in the sight of me this desperate and submissive. Then he turns on his heel and jerks his chin at his brothers.
Without another word, the four of them start back towards their cars.
Connor slumps forward the moment Kaden and Rico release his shoulders. I crawl over to him immediately and yank the duct tape from his mouth.
He gasps in a breath. “Raina.”
“Are you okay?” I ask while scooting around him so that I can start untying the ropes around his wrists and ankles.
Disbelief flashes in his gray eyes as he turns his head to stare at me over his shoulder. “AmIokay? Areyouokay? You’re the one who…” He trails off.
Behind us, car doors slam shut. The sound of it echoes across the forest. Then two cars are started.
The light from the headlights shifts across the trees as Eli and his brothers reverse their Range Rovers.
Then the forest is plunged into darkness as they drive away.
I blink against the blackness while my fingers continue fumbling with the knots.
For a while, neither of us speaks.
“That’s why you enrolled,” Connor says at last. His voice shatters the fragile silence and sends a ripple through the woods. “Not because you thought that I wasn’t enough. Not because you were trying to take my place.” He swallows thickly. “You did it to protect me.”
Suddenly, I’m glad that I’m struggling to untie the knots because it means that I get to stay seated behind him so that I don’t have to look into his eyes. Emotions well up inside me, ones that I can’t handle because I’m not good with emotions, and I don’t want him to see that.
“Of course I did,” I reply softly. “I would never become a good hitman. I will never be able to restore our family’s reputation. But if I can be a shield for you while you do it, then that’s what I’ll do. You have been carrying our family’s burden alone for far too long.”
“Raina…” There is pain in his voice.
At last, I manage to undo the knots. I gently slide the rope away from Connor’s wrists and ankles, and then slowly get to my feet. But I remain behind his back while I try to compose myself. My brother doesn’t let me, however, because he immediately shoots to his feet and spins around so that he is facing me.
Surprise pulses through my chest as he throws his arms around me and pulls me tightly against his firm body.
“I’m sorry,” he says into my hair. “I’m so, so sorry, Raina. I’m sorry for what you’ve had to endure because of me. And I’m sorry for being so fucking shitty to you.”
Wrapping my arms around him, I hug him back. “It’s okay.” Those emotions that I’m still trying to get a handle on clog up my throat. “I would do anything for you. You know that, right?”
“Yes, I do.” He pulls back. Reaching up, he draws his fingers through my hair and hooks it behind my ears. “And I for you.”
I don’t know how to handle the endless familial love in his eyes so all I do is swallow against the thickness in my throat.
As if Connor can sense that I’m struggling, he immediately shifts into a lighter tone as he flashes me a smile and says, “Did you really key Eli’s car?”
Relief flutters through me. After the night we’ve had, I need some time to process all of my emotions. Connor probably does too. He almost died, for God’s sake. So joking and teasing each other feels like the safer bet right now.
“Yeah,” I say as I start forward. Since those bastards drove off and left us here, we’ll need to walk back to campus on our own. “I carvedSmall Dick Energyinto the side of it.”
A genuine laugh rips from Connor’s chest, and he turns to stare at me with complete bafflement in his eyes while he falls in beside me. “You did what?”