Arranged love

Titan gets up from his seat and puts himself between me and the door, forcing me to a stop. “You aren’t going anywhere, Alexa.”

I give him my back and grip my hair. I want to scream. I know they aren’t going to hurt me, but I can’t say the same about Derek. My brother can be a pain in the ass, but that doesn’t mean I want him dead.

Cross just knocked him out like he was nothing. I didn’t think of what would happen when I called Cross and told him Derek was at my place. I just acted; afraid he knew something. Now I’m terrified Cross will kill him.

I sit down on the couch and bury my face in my hands. How long will they keep me here? How …?

The door opens, and my head snaps up to see my brother enters the room, followed by Cross and then Grave.

“Derek.” I rush over to him and jump into his arms. “Oh my god.” I sniff with relief that he’s not dead.

“I’m fine.” He says softly, hugging me tightly.

I pull back, and he lets me go. I gasp when I get a look at him. His shirt is ripped open, and he has a mark on the left side of his chest. “What is that?” I touch it, and he jumps back, hissing in a breath.

What…? I take another look, and it’s a cross. Is it …? I reach out, and he grabs my wrists to stop me from touching it again. The skin is raised and irritated, and I instantly realize what it is. I’ve seen it before.

Pulling away, I turn to face Cross. My hands fisted by my side. “You branded him?” I snap.

He leans back against the bar top, crossing his ankles and arms over his chest, but he stays silent. His once pretty green eyes are now dark and clouded like a storm.

“Sis, I’m fine.” Derek grabs my arm, forcing me to face him. “Are you okay?” He asks gently, his eyes running over my body. He reaches up, cupping my face.

“She’s fine.” Titan is the one who answers Derek, but my brother ignores him.

I shove him away and storm over to Cross. “Why would you do that?”

“I needed answers.” Comes his clipped response.

“Then just ask him,” I shout, shoving his chest, but he doesn’t budge.

“I did. He refused to answer.” Cross shrugs. “Hence the reason I did what I did.”

“You son of a bitch.” I start to hit him, but I’m grabbed from behind and pulled away. Then I’m spun around. I expect to come face-to-face with Bones like last time, but a soft pair of dark eyes meet mine. One already bruised from the hit he took to the face earlier.Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

“Calm down, Alexa,” Derek says, grabbing my face.

“He hurt you.” I cry out. He hates the Kings, so why is he taking their side on this?

He sighs, looking at someone over my shoulder for a quick second before his eyes come back to mine. “And someone’s trying to hurt you. The Kings were just doing what they thought needed to be done.”

“But …”

“I’m fine.” He gives me a soft smile. “Promise.”

“I want to go home,” I tell him.

“You’re not going anywhere.” The familiar voice comes from behind me.

CROSS

I WATCH HER spin around. Her green eyes stare at me with disgust, but I can see the tears pooling in them. I hate it. Where we are right now. But I won’t budge on this. I won’t go soft because I fell in love with her. She has to understand the severity of the situation.

“I’m not staying here with you,” she states and starts to head to the door, but Derek grabs her hands, stopping her.

“As much as I hate it, Cross is right. You need to stay here.”

Her mouth drops open. “He knocked you out …”

“I know.” He nods once.

“He then branded you …”

“Too bad you started talking. I was in the mood to fuck you up, D.” Grave winks at him, interrupting her.

“I know,” he growls, acknowledging what she said and ignoring Grave.

“Why are you taking his side?” she demands, pulling away from him.

He runs a hand down his face. “Because this has nothing to do with them and everything to do with you.”

“Take me home, Derek. Please?” she begs, gripping his shirt.

“Listen.” He gets angry, grabbing her shoulders. “I can’t protect you. Don’t you see that?”

She goes to speak, but I say. “Derek was at Lucky’s. He was the one who called the police,” I inform her. I’ve held onto this information. I didn’t want him to know that I knew. That would have given him time to think of a lie. When I mentioned he knew it was set on fire-that was his chance to confess. But instead, he told me he’d spoken to Mitch, and although I believed him, he wasn’t going to willingly tell me that he was the one who called the cops because then that would have put him at the scene of the crime, ratting himself out.

He throws his head back, sighing at the ceiling.

Her wide eyes look at him with disbelief. “What? Derek, did you do it? Did you set that fire?”

“No,” he growls.

“Then why …?”

“I went over there, okay? I wanted to apologize to you. I pulled up, and it was already on fire. I didn’t realize it until I walked inside. I smelled the smoke the moment I entered and called 911.” He looks at me. “I promise that’s the truth. I did not set that fire.”

A part of me wants to believe him. Another part tells me not to fall for it. He hasn’t proven himself to be loyal to her. He’s turned his back on her. Why would he care now?

She says nothing to his confession. Her mind trying to decide if she should believe him or not either.

I clear my throat, getting both of their attention, and I arch a brow at him. “Either you tell her or I do.” There’s more to this story.

“What?” She looks back at him.

He steps back from her, needing the space.

“What is it?” she demands, wanting to know what I’m talking about. Wondering just how many more secrets he’s been keeping from her.

“I’ve been talking to Mitch,” he admits.

“I know,” she states.

I push off the bar at the same time as his eyes narrow on her. “You knew?” we both ask in unison.

She steps to the side so she can see both of us before she speaks. “Yeah. When I saw him at Crown, he told me that you informed him Lucky’s wasn’t doing well.”

He reaches up, running his hands through his hair aggressively. “Alexa …”

“When I asked him what he was doing talking to you, he said it was none of my business.” She frowns. “I told him to stay away from you, and he just laughed.”

He drops his head and shakes it. “Jesus.”

“Wait?” She looks from him to me. “Are you mad at me?”

“Why didn’t you tell me this?” He demands.

Her brows rise at his tone. “You weren’t even speaking to me. Why the fuck would I come to you? Plus, I never see Mitch. I thought that he could be lying just to piss me off.”

“You told me you spent the night with him last night.” Derek fires at her.

“What?” I ask, blinking. “You spent the night with him last night?” My blood pressure rises instantly, and my need to burn something is strong. I’m going to need a bigger cross.

She rolls her eyes at me and snaps, “I was with you last night, you dumb ass!”

“But you-”

“I lied to you,” she interrupts her brother. “You were yelling at me and talking shit about Cross. I wasn’t going to tell you that I’ve been practically living with him and make the situation worse.”

“What?” He gasps. “You’re living with him? When were you going to tell me it’s this serious?”