Page 73 of Temptation
“I can’t,” he whimpered. His eyes were full of tears threatening to spill over. “I made a promise. I took an oath.”
“Rowan,” Dylan warned, and I turned around to see Ash holding Dylan in place. I didn’t think that either one of them noticed the action. Looking at them, standing next to each other, they were a sight to see.
Like Yin and Yang, dark and light, they stood like a formidable force. Both of them towered over me, and the violence licking my skin, emanating from their bodies, was enough to send shivers all over my body.
Rowan tensed beneath my hand, while my mind tried to understand what was going on around me. Dylan knew something—something Rowan didn’t want the rest of us to know. And it was enough to create a meltdown of this proportion.
Was it… “Is it about Danny?” I asked no one in particular, remembering all the things that happened this year. “Rowan?” I asked him, but his eyes were plastered on the two men on the other side.
“Goddammit, Rowan,” Ash cursed and wrapped his hand tighter around Dylan’s bicep. “Just fucking tell her.”
“You know as well?” Why wasn’t I surprised? It seemed that every single one of them knew what was happening, except for me. “One of you better start talking—”
“I’m giving you one last chance, Rowan,” Dylan threatened. “One last fucking chance, or I’m telling her. I think she would rather hear it from you.”
“You don’t understand. It wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t.” Tears cascaded down Rowan’s cheeks, and like a man admitting defeat, he slouched down and sat on the ground. “He didn’t have a choice,” Rowan murmured. “It wasn’t his fault.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked. “Who, Ro? Who didn’t have a choice?”
“I can’t, I can’t, I can’t.” He shook his head. “I can’t betray him.”
“Who?” I was getting aggravated now. Angry, and tired of this bullshit. “Rowan!”
“I can’t!” he roared and looked up at me. “I promised him I would keep it a secret. I promised I would help him. But I can’t help him. Not now. Not when he’s in too deep.”
“Rowan, I don’t understand one single word that just left your mouth.”
“Fucking shit,” I heard from behind me, and in less than a second, a strong pair of hands landed on my shoulders, spinning me around. I came face-to-face with a furious Dylan, and I knew at that moment, that whatever they hid from me was not something I would easily recover from. “Little One,” Dylan started, breathing heavily. “You might want to sit down for this.”
“Why?” I asked, determination clear in my voice. I shook him off me and stepped closer to the entrance, creating some distance between me and all of them.
Looking at them, at these men I once trusted, I realized that I always had a penchant for broken pieces. Darkness was spreading through each and every one of them, but I never wanted to see it before because their demons always played with mine.
Kane and Rowan didn’t hold my heart, but they held a piece of my soul, reserved for those important people in my life. Dylan and Ash… I didn’t want to admit it, I didn’t want to say it out loud, but my heart cried for both of them.
Different reasons, but the same outcome—my heart bled for them.
“Sky, listen to him,” Ash butted in, and I narrowed my eyes at him. “This is not going to be pretty.”
“Just fucking tell me!”
“It was Danny!” Rowan yelled out. “Danny is the one that hurt you.” He looked at me, but I couldn’t see him. I couldn’t see my friend.
“Danny?” I asked shakily. “Our Danny?”
“The fuck?” Kane’s voice registered somewhere in the back of my mind, but I couldn’t focus on that right now.
“Your brother attacked me?” I couldn’t understand it.
Danny, my Danny… The boy I grew up with. The boy I trusted more than Rowan because he always seemed to understand. Danny with his happy smiles, and carefree personality. Danny who hugged me for my birthday, and who was always there.
“No.” I shook my head, leaning back on the wall. My knees shook, my hands trembled, and the illusion I created in my head was shattering. “It can’t be,” I said more to myself than anyone else.
“It’s the truth, Skylar,” Dylan murmured. “All of it is true.”
“It can’t be. He… He’s my friend.”
“No, Moonshine,” Ash said and walked toward me. He took my hand into his, squeezing it, as if he was trying to give me the strength I so desperately needed. “He pretended to be your friend, but he wasn’t.”
