I push against Captain and silence surrounds us.
His brows drop low as he studies me, and slowly his hand slides around me. He pulls my body into his, moving us back a few spaces, his mouth hitting my ear.
“What are you doing?” he asks.
“We’re losing respect by the second. Collins is back, Leo too. Maddoc isn’t here and in their eyes, I’ve traded more times than I can count now.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Show them we aren’t falling apart, make them think we’re stronger than ever.”
Cap pulls back and looks at me.
“We should be. That’s the point of this right, join the families? Create a power couple?” I whisper, my gaze flicking between his. “A couple in general.”
A sharp pain shoots up my spine at the words, but I welcome it.
His fingers tighten against me, his expression not changing. “You can’t even say it, can you?”
“Why should I have to, Cap?” I shake my head.
At that, his brows wrinkle and he moves his lips back to my ear to hide it. “You don’t know this side of me, how I am with a girl who’s mine, so I’ll fill you in on one thing now.” There’s a slight rumble in his voice. “Words, Raven. I need them.”
“I’m standing here, already yours, right? So what’s the point?”
“Wrong and that in itself is the point.” His words come out sharper this time. “You’re not mine, Raven. Despite the promise we made, you’re not.” He hesitates before adding, “Not yet.”
Not ever.
That’s what we’re both thinking but don’t say aloud.
A moment later, the silence surrounding us is quickly overtaken.
First, it’s music, then the screech of tires. Gasps follow, then low whistles and laughs. Heads snap my way then the other and both mine and Cap’s follow.
A black SUV, identical to the one I drove here in pulls up beside Captain’s. Royce and Victoria both stare at me with tight eyes, but mine are locked on the passenger seat of Maddoc’s ride as it opens and a girl with sleek straight, blonde hair chopped at the collarbone steps out. I’ve seen her before, though the hair is new.
Graven Preps queen bee.
She steps around the hood, Maddoc meeting her there and the two walk over to Royce and Victoria like it’s any other day and she belongs.
It’s not and she sure as fuck doesn’t.
I embed my fingers into the skin of Captain’s chest, and apparently subconsciously attempt to move past him, but he grips me tighter, forcing my feet to stay planted where they are.
He holds firm, his way of trying to steady me on the inside, but my body is numb, my face blank, my mind void.
And somehow my chest still stings with the prick of a thousand needles.
I want to rip her head off and stick it back in the Barbie box it came out of.
The girl holds her hand out to Victoria but gets a bored blink in return. Royce and Maddoc exchange a fist bump and then the two shift toward us.
His eyes are hidden behind dark lenses, his face smooth, mouth closed in a tired, lazy line.
So much effort to look so careless.
“You’re shaking.” Cap’s words waft across my skin and I drag my eyes to his.
My throat starts to close, heat spreading across my face as I attempt to squash the sudden anger boiling. An emptiness forms at the base of my ribs, and I almost bend to erase it.
Captain’s eyes move between mine.
More worry.
No.
“Do it,” I rasp, swallowing past the clog in my throat, trying for air that won’t come.
He keeps staring.
“You wanted words, Captain.” I scowl. “Everyone is around, everyone is watching. We can confirm this right now.”
“Raven—”
“I said do it.”
Captain tugs me closer. He’s mad. “You don’t want this. You’re doing this because you’re pissed off and hurt and it’s the first time you’ve laid eyes on him since he asked you to walk away from him, since you did.”
I jerk against his hold, but his tight grip makes it unnoticeable to the prying eyes.
Maddoc spots it though, his brows disappearing under his frames.
I move my eyes back to Cap. “I was asking you to kiss me before he got here. Don’t I have the right? I’ll be your wife in three months, forever fucking you in four. I should have your mouth on mine anytime I want.”
“If I kiss you right now, he will never be able to erase it. He’ll lie awake at night, like I’m bettin’ he has the last several, and play out every move he anticipates we’ll make. He’ll think about the ways you touched him and how you’ll touch me. He’ll think about the things you liked him to do and how I’ll learn of the same. You make me kiss you right now, Raven, and those fucked up fears become his fucked-up reality. They won’t only keep him up at night, but they’ll follow him with every step.”