Page 17 of The Reckoning (Oakmount Elite #7)

TEN

LILIAN

T he next day, Drew drops off a couple more laptops and phones for us.

The past twenty-four hours have been a whirlwind of ups and downs, but it appears Arson and Aries have come to an easy truce…

or maybe a better word would be an uneasy truce.

It doesn’t really matter. I don’t expect them to always get along or to let go of what happened.

I know there are unresolved issues and trauma there, but it makes me feel better that they want to put their differences aside, at least for me.

After spending a good portion of the day reading over reports.

Any mention of the names Arson gave me. Of reports related to Hayes Enterprises, and of the Medical Research Division looking for any inclination or hidden meaning, and very quickly, I want to claw my own eyes out.

Aries approaches me with a smile while I’m sitting at the small kitchenette table.

I’m finally in my own clothes, and he is, too.

It might seem strange to comment on, but there’s so much comfort in a little bit of normalcy, especially when everything has been far from normal.

I wonder if it feels weird to him? To return to his old life, but be a completely different person.

“Hey, you.” I greet him with a smile. He doesn’t greet me with a hello.

Instead, he bends down and scoops me up into his arms like I weigh nothing.

For someone who’s spent months in captivity, his strength is surprising—his muscles may have atrophied, but the core power is still there, coiled and ready to be unleashed.

“What are you doing?” I ask, my hands automatically finding purchase around his neck.

“We need to talk,” he says, voice low and determined. “ Alone .”

Arson stands at the opening of the hallway, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. He shoves off the wall, his posture shifting from casual to threatening in the blink of an eye. “You’re not taking her anywhere.”

I hold up a hand to stop him. “Relax. It’s fine.”

“The hell it is,” Arson growls, eyes locked on his twin. “I’m not letting him take you anywhere alone.”

Aries’s entire body tenses, his arms tightening around me to the point of discomfort.

“I’m not going to hurt her,” he spits out, the words practically vibrating with rage.

The anger in him is so close to the surface these days, bubbling just beneath his skin like lava ready to erupt.

It’s nothing like the controlled, measured Aries I grew up with—the perfect Hayes heir who never raised his voice, never lost his cool, never showed anything but calculated charm.

That was the man I fell for, but this new Aries makes me crave him even more.

He’s raw and exposed, his emotions no longer buried beneath layers of conditioning.

It’s terrifying, but if I’m being honest with myself, it’s also a little thrilling.

“It’s okay,” I tell Arson, trying to defuse the situation before it explodes again. “Give us a few minutes. I’m serious. You don’t get to decide when I spend time with him or you. You both know the rules.”

The way Arson clenches his jaw proves how unhappy he is with the arrangement, but he takes a reluctant step back. The three of us are tensed in a triangle of tension so thick I could cut it with a knife.

“The bedroom,” I tell Aries, pointing toward the hall.

Arson’s expression darkens further, but he says nothing as Aries brushes past him, carrying me out of the room.

I can feel him following a few steps behind, his presence like a shadow at our backs.

He pauses just outside the door, and Aries, balancing on one foot, pushes it closed.

The bedroom remains unchanged from the day before.

However, clothing and other items are scattered around the makeshift space.

Aries sets me down on the edge of the bed with surprising gentleness, then straightens, looming over me with an unreadable expression.

I take a moment to really look at him, to catalog the changes captivity has wrought.

He’s thinner, yes, the sharp angles of his face more pronounced, but it’s the change in his eyes that really strikes me.

There’s a hardness there that wasn’t present before, a wariness that makes him look older than his twenty-six years.

The polished veneer of the Hayes heir has been stripped away, revealing something more raw and authentic beneath.

“Don’t even think about it,” I tell him when he stalks forward, flames of desire flickering in his hazel eyes.

He freezes, surprise flashing across his features before it’s replaced by frustration. “Why not? You didn’t seem to have any problems jumping into bed with my brother.”

The accusation stings, but I refuse to be shamed for my choices.

“Don’t,” I warn. “You don’t get to judge me, Aries.

Not after years of hot and cold, pushing me away one minute and pulling me close the next.

I’m not going to have sex with you right now just because you’ve suddenly decided you want me.

We need to heal some of the wrongs, work on us, and what we never had the chance to be. ”

“Fuck, I understand that. I get it, but I also want you. Need you.” He lets out an almost growl and turns away from me, frustration in every line of his body.

I stand, shifting to get right in his face despite our height difference.

“You don’t get to make this choice. You don’t get to tell me I’m ready for something just because you think you are.

At least Arson is man enough to admit what he wants.

He doesn’t play games or pretend he’s not interested in protecting me.

I want you to tell me what I am to you. What I mean to you.

I know it already, but there is a difference between hearing someone tell you something and knowing it based upon instinct. ”

Aries’s jaw clenches, a muscle ticking in his cheek. “Is that what you think I was doing? Playing games? None of this has ever been a game. I cannot even put into words how naive you sound right now. I’m playing games, but Arson literally used you in his own twisted game of revenge to hurt me.”

“This isn’t about Arson. This is about us.

What else should I call it?” I challenge.

“One minute, you’re looking at me like you want to devour me, and the next, you’re pushing me away, telling me we can’t, we shouldn’t, it’s too complicated.

For years, Aries. Years of mixed signals and almost moments and nothing ever happening.

I can’t even describe how much your rejection hurt me. ”

“I didn’t want to reject you. I wanted you. But I also wanted to do the right thing,” he argues, but there’s less conviction in his voice now. “You’re my stepsister. We grew up together. Our parents?—”

“Our parents are monsters.” I cut him off. “We both know that, and I think we knew that even back then. It’s time to stop hiding behind family dynamics and propriety. That’s not why you kept pushing me away, and we both know it.”

We glare at each other, both breathing hard, neither willing to back down.

“Fine,” Aries finally says, the word forced through gritted teeth. “You want me to say it?”

“I want you to say whatever you want to say.”

“Then the truth is, I want you. I’ve always wanted you.

Like the air I breathe, like the night sky needs the stars, like a fucking flower needs the sun to grow.

I’ve longed to make you mine, and I hated myself every time I gave in to the selfish want and need to claim you for fear that my father would use you against me if he discovered how much you meant to me. ”

The confession hangs in the air between us, raw and imperfect and entirely inadequate. But it’s more than he’s ever given me before.

“Is that it?” I ask, unable to keep the disappointment from my voice.

He knows what I’m asking for. I can see it in his eyes—the struggle, the fear, the words he can’t bring himself to say.

“No, there is more, but I can’t give you all of it right now,” he says quietly, and for a moment, the anger falls away, revealing a warm vulnerability he never allows anyone to see. “I know what you want from me, but I can’t… I’m not…”

“It’s okay. It’s fine if you can’t tell me everything right now.

” I soften my voice. “But if you want this, want me, you need to accept that I won’t let you push me away anymore.

Not out of this twisted desire to protect me, or any other stupid excuse you can fathom.

I know I said it yesterday, but I really need you to understand that I can’t be in the middle of your hate for each other.

I won’t survive it. I care about both of you too much to allow either of you to use me against the other. ”

Aries’s gaze softens, and I see a flickering of guilt. “We won’t. We agreed to try to let shit go. Neither of us wants to lose you.”

I nod and take a deep breath. Last night, I thought about what a future between the three of us would look like and how there would be no room for jealousy.

It made me realize that the only way to help ease that would be to ensure they both knew what the other was doing or not doing with me.

“I understand that, and I was thinking about it last night, and I decided the only way to really help ease the jealousy between the two of you is to ensure that both of you know if I’m sleeping with the other one, and the only way to do that is to make you aware or have you be present during the act. ”

The shock on Aries’s face would be comical if the situation weren’t so intense. He looks like I’ve slapped him.

“You can’t be serious,” he says.

“Dead serious,” I confirm. “Those are my terms, including trying to make amends with each other. Take them or leave them.”

Aries runs a hand through his hair, a gesture of frustration I’ve seen a thousand times. “So what, we’re supposed to share you? Take turns? Watch while the other—” He cuts himself off, apparently unable to even finish the thought.