Flock (The Ravenhood Duet #1)(99)
“I’m going to do everything I can to make sure it goes down the way it’s supposed to. Arm the house, yourself, but don’t tell him.” The haunted look in his eyes is enough to tell me his fate if I can’t keep this secret.
“Why did you tell me?”
“I just told you. You’re my priority. Not only because of how I feel about you, but because I brought you into this, it’s my fucking fault.” He runs a hand through his hair before slapping it on the door next to me. “I swear to God. I thought it would be safer to bring you in. There’s too much going on to hash out today. Just know I fucked up, Dom and I fucked up, and we all need to…stay away from each other. The longer we aren’t seen together, the more it’ll look like…”
“Like you used me.”
He nods. “One day, I’ll beg you to forgive me, but for now, I need you to listen and hear me. This is real.”
“I don’t know what to say. I can’t believe you’re expecting me to trust you.”
“Trust your gut.” He leans in, in an attempt to kiss me and I turn my head. His exhale hits my neck. He rolls his forehead along the door next to me before pulling back, his eyes imploring mine. “One day, I’ll try and make this right. But right now, I’m begging you to believe me.”
“I don’t know what to think…” Tears fall as I think of Dominic and the way he looked at me yesterday. “Dom doesn’t hate me…” It comes out both question and statement.
“His issue is with your father.” He studies me carefully. “He got to you first?”
I nod.
“He’s been MIA since you got back. I’ve never seen him like this.”
A tear slips from me and he flinches at the sight of it. “You trust me, Cecelia, that’s the hardest part of all of this. I worked so hard to earn it, to try to earn you, though I was partly deceiving you, and…I’ll fucking hate myself forever for this.” He grips my face tightly in his palms. “I knew from the get-go you were more,” he murmurs. “Just think it all through, okay? Think it through. Think about everything I’ve told you. Push that night aside and believe me when I say that was all about protecting and distancing you, rather than hurting you. But I blew it. I blew it because I couldn’t stand to see you in so much pain.”
When he threw that punch at Dominic, that was his breaking point.
“Trust me and trust Dom, and no matter what happens from here on out. Don’t look for us. Don’t look for answers. I’ll find a way to work this out. I’ll find a way.”
“You’re scaring me.”
“I know. I’m sorry. You wanted to know, now you do. You wanted in. You’re in. It’s time to keep your secrets.” He grips my jaw, leaving no room for argument before his possessive lips claim mine. We both whimper into the other’s mouths as he invades—drinking, taking—his kiss going feather-soft before he pulls himself away in what feels a lot like goodbye.
Briefly, his eyes lift, shimmering with emotion. “I love you,” he whispers hoarsely before opening the door and walking out. It lingers open briefly, suspended behind him before clicking closed and detonating the bomb he just dropped.
I GOOGLED FACTS ABOUT RAVENS out of curiosity last night and wished I’d done it a lot sooner. Even with their cloak firmly in place, it would have done me a hell of a lot of good just to recognize their traits are very much like that of their mascot.
A group of ravens is called a conspiracy, the irony of that not at all lost on me.
The birds band together in adolescence to form a bond as rebellious teenagers—which I’m sure is when The Ravenhood was formed—until they finally mate out. And the theory on Ravens is that they mate for life.
The wings Layla has on her back are permanent, a branding, a branding she volunteered for. At this point, I’m too hard-pressed to believe any man in my life is sincere enough for that type of commitment, let alone capable of it.
Ravens are also some of the most intelligent birds—which isn’t surprising. Every move they’ve made regarding me was calculated, argued over. I’m sure that more than one of Dominic and Sean’s early garage fights were about me. I suspected as much, but Sean confirmed it.
Dominic and Sean have both preached to me, more than once, that knowledge is power. It’s evident now the only way to become a player in this game is to outsmart them or prove myself by having a valuable secret they aren’t privy to.
It was this morning while I sipped my coffee on my balcony that I realized both Sean and Dominic slowly, subtly, and indirectly gave some of that power to me.
It was the blinking lights that summoned the image of Dominic, tucked in his camping chair with his phone plugged up to his laptop, serving as his internet connection, that flashed through my mind.
A connection that would otherwise be impossible if…there wasn’t a fucking cell tower just a few yards away from him. Once it occurred to me, I’d dropped my coffee on the porch and raced through the house and out the door, through the hundred yards of grass and into the clearing of trees only to feel like the biggest fool alive.
All those times I’d been to their gathering spot, they’d taken me in the back way, making the trip seem endless, a long distance away to mask the fact that their meetup spot, was actually in my literal back yard. This ploy makes perfect sense if you’re on constant watch of your enemy, and his dumb and unassuming daughter.