Blood Vow (Black Dagger Legacy #2)(129)
Elise was living proof of it.
And yes, she wanted to go into her feelings of hurt, rejection, and betrayal with Axe. She wanted to yell and scream, throw something. Kick him, maybe. But she knew damn well that was a persuasion thing, a negotiation, in addition to a punishment: By revealing more of herself to him instead of less, she was looking for him to do a complete turnaround and become, once again, who she had believed him to be.
But what was the saying? When somebody showed you who they were, you needed to believe them the first time.
Axe’s true colors had come out. But only because he’d slipped up, and gotten caught by a happenstance of facts and circumstance.
Elise had laid Allishon to rest tonight. And now she was putting this … thing … between her and Axe down along with her cousin.
“So that’s all I’ve got,” she told him. “I’m going to go now. I wish you well, and I will not speak of this again to anyone. You do as you wish, however. I don’t need you to protect me. I’m a big girl, and if there’s fallout, I’ll take it.”
Because actually, her situation with him wasn’t the only thing she’d been mulling over as she’d sat here alone and waited for him to come home.
She’d arrived at some other conclusions, too.
“Goodbye, Axe.”
Her body was a little shaky as she approached him, but not because she was afraid of him hurting her or saying something awful: Proximity was just hard … even though her mind had changed gears when it came to him, her corporeal form still wanted his.
That was never happening again, though.
“I think you’re really going into the right field,” he said as he got out of her way.
“I’m sorry, what?”
His eyes shifted over to hers. “You’re going to make a great professor. You excel at one-sided conversations and you have all the answers. You’ve given me an F, kicked me out of the class, and you’re ready for the next student. And you feel terrific about it.”
“No,” she said softly. “Not terrific. But the biggest fallacy people sell themselves is that they should be happy all the time.”
“I’ve never believed that. And you’ve just proved my position all over again.”
He leaned to the side and opened the door; then he walked away without looking back.
Which was fine.
She was going to do the same.
Once outside, Elise dematerialized back to her house, and after she went in through the front door, she proceeded directly to her father’s study. Knocking on the closed panels, she waited … and then let herself in.
He was, as always, at his desk. Dressed impeccably. Shuffling papers. Working on his investments.
“Well, good evening, daughter mine. How fare thee?”
Elise ditched the preamble and sat down without being invited to do so. “I’m moving out as soon as I find a suitable place to live. I have some money that mahmen left me, and I’m also going to be taking on more hours at the university for pay. I’d like to stay here while I apartment hunt, but if that makes you uncomfortable, I’ll locate other accommodations.”
As her father dropped his pen, and his lower jaw, she nodded. “And yes, my mind’s made up. I’m sorry if this causes you any grief or embarrassment, and I would very much like to continue to have a relationship with you. That’s your choice, of course, and if you need to distance yourself from me temporarily or even permanently, it will break my heart, but I will understand.”
She got back to her feet. “I need to go live my own life, on my own terms—and that’s not something that you, or anyone else, can grant me permission to do or withhold permission from me for. It’s up to me, and me alone. And actually … I’m really good with that.”
FIFTY
The following evening at around midnight, Mary stood to the side and watched Bitty walk Ruhn through the vestibule and into the great, colorful foyer of the Black Dagger Brotherhood’s mansion.
Bitty’s uncle had been interviewed by Wrath, and actually all the males of the household, the night before—and you want to talk about a grilling? The poor guy had been two feet shorter after the interrogations were through, and Mary and Bitty had practically had to pour him into one of the beds down below at Darius’s.
And then there had been the trip down South right after sunset, Ruhn, Rhage, and V heading back to where Ruhn stayed, and talking to his employer, who hadn’t required notice. There had been so little in terms of personal belongings that the three of them had been able to fill up some backpacks and duffels and dematerialize the stuff up here to Caldwell, traveling at jumps of fifty to a hundred miles.
“Isn’t it beautiful!” Bitty exclaimed as she let go of the male’s hand and started to jump around. “And don’t worry, you get used to it. I promise!”
Ruhn looked like his head was spinning as his eyes bounced around the gold leafing and the crystal and the columns. “It’s … well, I’ve worked in a big mansion. But nothing like this.”
Bitty grabbed his hand again and dragged him into the billiards room. “Come meet the pool tables!”
As the pair of them went off, Rhage put his arm around Mary and whispered, “His place was spotlessly clean, my Mary, but there was nothing in it. Just a bed and table with one chair. Breaks your fucking heart—he was prepared to make it work, though. His employer told me that Ruhn was going to take on more hours to put Bitty in school on the estate. He was ready to do his best.”