Page 99 of Temptation
I wanted to say I’m sorry, because in a nutshell, I knew what it felt like having your heart ripped out. But I never managed to complete the sentence, because a dark shadow fell over us, cutting me off.
“I understand that you have a death wish, Ophelia.” Indigo’s deep voice boomed around us, an underlying current of hate intertwined with every word. I turned around and looked at him. He seemed furious; his eyes focused on Ophelia. “But the kid shouldn’t be the one to pay for your fucked-up behavior.”
“Go fuck yourself, Indigo,” Ophelia bit back. “It’s not like I wanted to be here. He made me come, so you can go back to your boss like a good little lapdog and tell him to either look somewhere else or to talk to me like a grown man.”
She had balls, but compared to Indigo, she was a tiny thing.
“Indigo—” I tried reasoning with him when a vein on his forehead started pulsating, and I had a feeling that we were five minutes away from bloodshed.
“You are such a bitch, Ophelia. Motherfucking bitch.”
“Takes one to know one, darling.” She chuckled bitterly. “At least I know what I am and what I want. I don’t shy away from the shit I did, and I don’t mind saying I’m sorry. Tell me, Indigo, is Atlas talking to you again?”
That did it.
Faster than I could react, Indigo was in front of her, lifting her up with his hand wrapped around her throat. I expected her to be afraid, to at least tremble, but she did none of those things.
“And whose fault is that, bitch?”
“I fucked up shit, Indigo,” she choked out. “But that one is all on you.”
I stood up, for what, I didn’t really know, but this was the side of Indigo that was completely unknown to me. Whatever their history was, it was obviously extremely bad if Indigo was reacting like this.
I looked toward the area where Storm was standing earlier, only to find him in the same position, just looking at what was happening. Atlas was next to him, his lips moving fast, pointing at the situation on this side, but he didn’t move a muscle. He said something to Atlas, which only had him raising his arms up and down, frustrated with whatever it was that he said. It was obvious that nobody else was going to come and help her, and while I maybe didn’t know her, no one should behave in this way. Not even Indigo.
“Indigo, you should let her go,” I started slowly, as if I was talking to a caged animal. “You’ll kill her.”
“I would be doing us all a favor if she stopped breathing. Trust me.”
And I would’ve, but she didn’t do anything to me. Whatever had happened between her and the rest of the club shouldn’t end up with her being dead. It couldn’t.
“For real, man.” I placed a hand on his upper arm. “This is not okay.”
“Ash—”
“What the fuck are you doing, Indigo?”
I looked to the side at Atlas, who was now glaring at Indigo. Gone was the carefree smile he had on his face earlier, replaced by something much, much uglier.
“I think it’s pretty obvious, Atlas.”
But the way Atlas observed Indigo, it wasn’t just hatred shining through his eyes. There was love. So much love.
“Let go of her. I thought I warned you what would happen the next time you decided to act like a little bitch.”
“Fuck you, Atlas.”
“You already did that, baby.” Atlas grinned. I felt like a little kid, stuck between his parents while they were fighting. Neither one of them noticed me. “Now get your hands away from her neck and walk away. Storm might be an idiot right now, but he won’t like it if you kill her, no matter how much he thinks that he hates her.”
It felt like an eternity passed before he released her, stepping closer to Atlas this time.
“We need to talk.”
“No, we don’t.” Atlas smiled and took a step toward Ophelia who was now rubbing her neck. “You already said everything I needed to hear. There’s nothing left for you to say.”
“Atlas—”
“No, Indigo. Save it.”
