Page 42 of Tempting the President (Oro Nero MC)

Dear Ashton,

I never knew I was stuck-up...until today.

When you tell me I’m the prettiest sister in the whole world, when you tell me you love me, you...meant it, right?

Love, Your Big Sis

KELLION

IT WAS MIDNIGHT BY the time Kellion returned to his room. His private meeting with Helios had exhausted him, but somehow, it had been liberating, too. For the first time in his life, he had voiced out loud what used to be his greatest secret and shame.

“I fear a part of me will always doubt myself, will think I am incapable of leading our club.”

Helios had shaken his head at Kellion’s admission. “It’s not a part of you. Rather, it’s the echo of your parents’ voice in your mind. It’s goddamn baggage from your past, and it’s time you got rid of it, don’t you think?”

Kellion’s lips twisted. “Would it really be that easy?”

Helios didn’t smile back. “Look at you now. If someone told you years ago that you’d be admitting such a thing to me, what would you have thought?”

“That the other person was a lunatic.”

“Exactly. And yet you’re here now, and it wasn’t as hellish as you thought it would be, was it?

” Helios clapped a hand on his back. “I don’t love the club any less than I did the day I started it, but my time to lead is over.

It’s your turn now. It’s your fucking destiny, so can you fucking stop with the dithering? It’s not like you, Argyros.”

Thinking about that exchange made Kellion shake his head.

Only the President could give damn good advice combined with a healthy dose of cuss words.

But it was advice Kellion had heeded, and now he had good news to share with Aria.

She deserved to be the first to know since it was only because of her he had the courage to put the past behind him.

But then he saw her pale face, and Kellion’s heart nearly stopped beating. In three swift strides, he was kneeling in front of her. “What’s wrong, baby?”

“Someone named...Dinah called .”

Kellion froze.

“She says her...mistress...Ms. Jacqueline...needs you.” Aria’s voice was flat. “The woman says Jack—- ”

Kellion flinched, knowing at that moment Aria must have figured out why he had to leave during the day of her exhibit. “Aria—-”

But Aria continued as if she hadn’t heard a single thing. “—-Dinah says Jack...hasn’t been eating...for a week. ”

All the time Aria was speaking, her gaze was focused somewhere behind him. He had a feeling she would rather look at anywhere but him and, Kellion thought bleakly, he couldn’t blame her for it.

“Aria, look at me.”

He expected her to refuse, but instead, she squared her shoulders and slowly faced him.

Ah, God.

The pain in those blue-violet eyes nearly broke him. Kellion wasn’t sure how much she knew, but clearly, she knew enough to feel hurt. Betrayed.

“It’s not what you think, baby,” he said hoarsely. But even to his own ears, his words sounded like the lie it was.

He took her hands in his and flinched at how cold and weak they felt in his grip. “Aria, please.” He could hear the desperation in his voice, and he didn’t give a damn. All that mattered was that he reached her. That he made her believe. Because right now—-

It felt like she was slipping away from him, so far away that he had a feeling he would never be able to catch her if he let her go.

“Please. Believe me. Whatever you think—-it’s not like that.”

A tear slowly trailed down her cheek, and he ached, everything in him goddamn ached at the way she bit her lip hard, as if she was doing her best to stop it from trembling.

Ah, God. She looked so broken, and somehow her very silence made it even more terrible, like she had been crying out for him all this time – and he hadn’t heard a single damn thing.

And that was when it became clear.

This time, everything became clear, and there was no room for doubt and ambiguity.

His Aria had started as a rebound, had been his way to forget the girl who owned him for so many years. His heart hadn’t belonged to her at the start, but it did now.

He loved her. He loved her like he had never loved Jack, like he had never loved anyone.

His love for her had such depth that it made his feelings for Jack seem paltry.

He loved her so much he found himself wishing he had the power to turn back time.

Because if he did, then he would wish that they had never met.

That way, he could ensure she was spared the pain she was suffering now – because of him.

“Aria, listen.” He wanted to cup her face, wanted to kiss her, wanted to lick that teardrop away because he felt like it was burning her skin, a reminder of his betrayal.

He wanted to do so many things but he couldn’t because right now, he felt like he didn’t deserve to even look at her.

“I’m going to make things right, I promise you.

” He badly wanted to tell her how much he loved her, but Kellion did his best to hold the words back.

If he said them now, she might think that he was only saying it out of guilt or pity, and he didn’t want that, didn’t want to risk hurting her even more.

When he said the words, it would be in a place and time that would ensure she’d have no reason to doubt him.

But for now—-

“Please, Aria. I’m begging you, just let me make things right and I swear...I won’t hurt you again.”

Slowly, Aria nodded.

That night, they didn’t make love, didn’t face each other when they slept.

ARIA

“Thank you...for meeting with me. ” I took a deep breath. “Thank you also...for making sure we...can meet without...Kellion knowing .” Helios Andreadis had sent his VP out on an errand with MJ, ensuring that we could meet in the club’s conference room in private.

“Of course.” The President’s tone was strangely gentle, and somehow that hurt even more.

I took a deep breath. “I won’t...beat around.” My fists clenched on my lap. “Could you tell...me about... Jack ?”

Helios’ face became grim. “Shouldn’t this be something you should ask Kellion about?”

“I would...if I could be...sure he wouldn’t...lie to avoid...hurting me .” I forced myself to look into his eyes. Just so he knew how much I loved Kellion, and that even if it hurt to hear the truth, I had to know it, too. Because in the end, what I wanted was for Kellion to be happy.

“Please tell me... everything .”

Slowly, Helios did.

I wasn’t sure when I started to cry. Perhaps it was from the very start, when I learned that Kellion and dear old Jack were childhood friends, years and years of knowing each other that I couldn’t say about Kellion and me.

Or maybe it was when I learned about how Kellion had risked his life practicing a bike stunt just so the guests in Jack’s debut would forget she had been dumped.

I listened to him, and all I could think about was how so, so twisted I was. Every story spoke of Kellion’s love for a girl that wasn’t me, but somehow, each story made me love him even more.

He was a really good guy, my biker.

It wasn’t his fault that he tried his best to love me but failed. That he had done everything he could to forget Jack but couldn’t. It wasn’t his fault that he really thought I could make him happy and he turned out to be wrong.

“H-Helios?” I tried wiping the tears away as I spoke, but they just kept falling and my heart kept breaking. Not chipping into pieces. But breaking, shattering, in a way that I had a feeling only Kellion could fix.

I remembered the times I had told him I loved him, and I almost became hysterical. Oh God, God, God. All those times, I had thought he wasn’t able to say it back because it wasn’t his thing.

Oh God.

It was his thing, all right.

Kellion had always known how to love, had always been capable of saying the words.

He just couldn’t say them to me because I wasn’t the girl he loved.

“What is it?”

“C-can I a-ask a f-favor?”

He listened to me speak, and when I was done, he had only one question. “Why do you want to do this?”

“B-because I want...him...to be happy .”