Page 90 of Temptation
“Fuck!” I threw the papers to the floor, my entire body shaking from rage.
This was just a few years before my parents were killed. Was he somehow involved? Did he betray them?
I remember seeing him at family dinners, and just a few days before their death, he visited us, bringing gifts for both me and Sebastian. If he wasn’t guilty, why did he lie to me? Why didn’t he come clean about everything?
Did he think that by keeping the truth to himself he would somehow be able to make me do what he wanted me to do? He never wanted to get involved with anything I did. He never showed his fucking face whenever I needed to talk to people that knew about the Order. Was it because he knew someone would recognize him?
If so, how deep did his connection with the Order go? How deep was his connection with Judah Blackwood?
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I cursed, pacing the room from one side to the other.
Sebastian wasn’t safe here anymore. I wasn’t safe. None of this made sense, but my gut told me to get my brother out of here.
“Sebastian!” I roared from the top of my lungs and exited my room. The hallway was dark, still too early for anybody else to be up.
I turned the switch on and stalked toward Sebastian’s room. The door banged against the wall as I pushed it open, and Sebastian jumped in his bed, his sleepy eyes staring at me as if I’d lost my mind.
“What the fu—”
“I need you to pack your bags,” I muttered, opening his wardrobe, and pulling out a small suitcase.
“What the hell, Ash?” he asked, still sitting on the bed, rubbing at his eyes. “It’s seven in the morning, dude.”
“I don’t care. Get your ass up, take a shower, and pack your shit.”
“What?”
I turned around and looked at him. He’d already suffered enough, and I hated moving him away from here in such a short period, but I had to. I had to protect him and leaving him here with Uncle Neal was not an option.
At least not until I got to the bottom of this.
“You’re crazy,” he murmured. “Wake me up when breakfast is ready. I’m going back to sleep.”
He started turning around and laid his head on the pillow. He didn’t understand. He couldn’t understand because I always kept him out of it. He knew bits and pieces but not the real reason why I did all these things. Why my eyes held so much hatred and so little light? Why we moved from city to city every few months? He didn’t know because I wanted him to have as normal a childhood as possible.
“Sebastian,” I growled. “I’m not fucking playing. Get up, get dressed and meet me downstairs.”
“But why?” He turned around and looked at me. “You have that crazy look on your face, and I don’t know if you’re joking or if you’re just high as fuck.”
“I’ll explain everything, but we need to move. You have twenty minutes to get ready. Pack everything you need.”
“But what about school? Where are we going?”
“Fuck school,” I bit out as I came to the door. “It can wait. I need you to be safe and this is the only way I can guarantee that.”
“Safe from what?” he asked, but his voice was already drifting away as I stalked toward my room.
“Start packing, Sebastian.”
And I did the same.
I pulled the suitcase I always kept in my room to my bed, and I started rummaging through my wardrobe, pulling out clothes I would need. I opened the drawers, collecting all the papers I managed to get my hands on over the years. Maybe I wouldn’t need them, but I would rather take it all with me, leaving nothing behind.
You never knew when you would need those things.
A knock sounded on my door and I turned around to see a sleepy Sebastian standing there.
“You’re still not dressed,” I said, continuing to pack.
