Page 17 of Don’t Hate Me (Secrets of Ravens Hollow #2)

I suck in a breath, my lips twisting up at the sides. “I know. Maybe that’s what I want.”

His fingers slip from mine, and he stands, staring down at me like he doesn’t know what to do with me.

“You want to know what your brother means to me?” I ask when I know he’s about to walk away from me, not ready for this conversation to end. He doesn’t get to walk away from me, not now, not when I feel like I’m getting somewhere.

He glares back at me, and I know he’s desperate to know how I really feel about Romeo.

“I fell for him hard, and every day you keep us apart, I miss him more. Not just him, but Onyx and Reef as well. I feel like I’m missing part of myself without them.

It makes me feel fucking crazy. But that’s what you want, isn’t it?

Because you want me to yourself.” My chest heaves with frustration.

With loss from not being able to see or talk to the boys.

Clumsily I get to my feet, balancing on my good leg.

“I have never experienced this pain in my chest before, this hollowness that just won’t go away.

I didn’t even know what was really going on between us.

I thought it was just an infatuation, me just wanting to fuck away my problems, but now I know it was so much more, and I can’t even tell them because I’m locked up here with you.

” The words tumble out, and I can’t stop them, each truer than the last. I have real feelings for all of them, and it’s scary as fuck, but I can’t deny it.

“It’s for the best, treasure,” he seethes through clenched teeth, giving me one last assessing look, his eyes lingering on my face before dropping his head in defeat and walking away like the weight of the world is sitting on his shoulders.

My hands ball into fists. He doesn’t get to walk away from me. “I get it, what you’re trying to do. You think if I’m isolated out here, Syd won’t get to me,” I call after him, and he turns back. “Makes sense. But I need to see the boys. Can’t you let them come out here?”

For what feels like an eternity, his eyes bore into mine. He looks wounded that I even asked to see them again. Like I’m the one hurting him, not the other way round. “Follow me,” he grumbles.

Slowly, I hobble along behind him. He waits for me on the stairs, helping me up each one.

Even when he’s annoyed with me, he still has to help me.

That says something about his character, doesn’t it?

At this point, I’m not sure if I’m just looking for any excuse not to hate him, but every little thing he does makes me see him differently. In a better light.

Instead of taking us into the house as I expected, he opens the door to the lighthouse tower with a creak. A creepy shiver slithers down my spine, the smell of dust lingering in the air. “I thought I wasn’t allowed in here,” I sass, just because I can.

“Don’t make me change my mind,” he snips, not even looking back at me.

I zip my lips, not sure exactly what he’s going to change his mind on, but I don’t want to ruin it. If he’s letting me in on a part of him, then I want to know whatever it is. I’m desperate to know him.

He glances up the stairs, then back to me, his expression stony. Without warning, he picks me up and tosses me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

“I can do it,” I protest.

“I’m not waiting for you to climb every one of these damn stairs,” he grumbles.

When we get to the top platform, he sets me down on the ground again.

My eyes go wide, trying to take it all in.

I can’t help the gasp of shock that escapes me when I find the walls are lined with images of me.

Like the scary shit you would find in a serial killer’s home.

I can see why he didn’t want me to come in here.

It’s confronting as hell. I wander further into the room, scanning over the images.

They go back years, some of them from as long ago as before my mother died.

He was watching me before that night. Goosebumps prickle over my arms, the hairs standing on end at the thought.

“Orlando, what is this?” I whisper, the words getting caught in my throat.

He takes a seat at a messy desk in the center of the room. “My workspace,” he mutters as if this whole thing is normal. He turns on the computer in front of him.

I move around behind him so I can see what he’s up to.

There on the screen is the safe house by the docks.

And my boys. They’re all there together still.

I guess part of me thought they would return to their homes since I wasn’t there with them.

My heart does a couple of backflips at the sight of their handsome faces.

“You wanted to see them, there they are.” He stands so I can take his seat.

Tentatively I sit down and stare at the screen, trying to work out what they’re doing. They’re in the living room gathered around the table, with a laptop open. “What are they watching?” I ask out loud, not really expecting Orlando to know.

“You, asleep.”

I spin around to him, blinking back in shock. “What? You sent them a video of me sleeping?”

“You wanted them to know you’re safe. They do. I have been giving them updates,” he spits, and I can see this is getting him more and more worked up by the second. He’s uncomfortable having me in this space, but he brought me here.

My eyes lock with his. “This is weird, Orlando. You know it is, right?”

He shrugs like he couldn’t give two shits what I think. In his twisted brain, it’s probably normal.

Not sure what to do, I turn my attention back to the screen to see Romeo losing his shit and Onyx put his fist through the dry wall in a fit of rage. “W… what just happened?” I stutter, wondering what they can see.

His lips twist cruelly at the sides. “You woke up having a nightmare, and I comforted you.”

Oh, shit. My heart kicks up a beat, knowing what the boys just saw and exactly why they’re now losing it. “You took my hand to comfort me because you were recording this shit to send to them.” Irritation crawls under my skin, my glare turning icy cold toward him. “What the fuck are you playing at?”

He shoves my chair back till it hits the wall.

His hands come to either side of me, caging me in as he stares down at me like a raging bull.

He sucks in a ragged breath, and I can tell he’s trying to get his temper under control, but I just pushed him too far.

“I had to watch you fall for all three of them, one by one. Now they can watch you fall for me,” he spits back at me, his words like poison.

“I took your hand to comfort you because I wanted you to feel safe with me, because I fucking care about you, treasure, not for a show. But I wanted them to see what we have already and know you’re mine just as much as you are theirs. ”

I knew he was motherfucking crazy, but this shit is next-level psycho. How did he even get the video to them so quickly? I have been with him the entire time. Yeah, I might have just pushed him over the edge this morning, but I’m not sorry now that I know the truth. “You have lost your mind.”

He cracks his neck again, staring down at me, his chest rising and falling erratically giving me no indication of what the fuck he’s about to do.

I keep my chin up, staring at him defiantly, telling him I’m not putting up with this shit.

And like he didn’t just snap, his expression changes, his breathing calms down and he takes a controlled step away from me. “Time to go back to my room, treasure.”

I stare back at him like, what the fuck? But it doesn’t take me long to get up and start moving my legs. The expression on his face is not one I want to mess with. I want to see more of the boys, but not like this.