Page 70 of Point Proven
“W-What happened?” Oren’s eyes darted lower, widening as they met the blood seeping from his stomach. “You’re hurt?—”
“Whathappened?” Thorne seethed, striations dancing along his jaw. “You fuckinglied.”
“Woah, Thorne. You need to sit down,” I said, moving to bring a chair over to him, but he simply held up his hand.
“Donottell me what I need to fucking do, O’Neill.” The intensity of his timbre threw me off. I’d never heard Thorne Graves speak like this, not even during our time in the ranks.
“Lied?” Oren whispered, meeting his stare. “Stefan… Did?—”
“You fucking KNEW!”Thorne screamed, his voice breaking. “Youknewthis entire fucking time, and you didn’t tell me! You didn’t tell any of us!”
My gaze snapped to Oren. “What?”
His throat bobbed, eyes glossing over, and I thought Thorne was manic until Oren dipped his chin in a nod. “I-I did.”
He fucking knew?
This… This whole time, he knew about Stefan, this place?
Faster than Thorne could stop me, I shoved him against the door, fingers curling around his throat. “Explain.”
His feet scraped against the flooring, but he didn’t try to remove my hand. “I-It’s a long story…”
“Then fucking talk!” I shouted, shoulders heaving with each breath.
This… This was my best friend, and he knew… he fucking knew?
A pinched wail came from him as tears fell down his cheeks. “Stefan threatened me! H-He… He was close to my dad, and… and I tried to get away. I did, but… but he hasher!”
Thorne pushed himself into the van, sinking into one of the seats as he urged the driver to head out, not offering a single word more.
“Herwho?”
“My sister! He has my sister,” Oren cried.
My hold slackened, and he crumbled to the floor, knees cracking against the surface as he tucked his arms around his waist.
“My fault. This… This is entirely my fault, and… and my apology… isn’t good.”
Sister.
He had a fucking sister.
“Liam got taken! Thorne almostdied! Lev was fucking shot! And you want to sit here and bitch? To cry because you think you’ll get sympathy?” I spat, stepping away to run my fingers through my hair. The car jolted, but I steadied myself as I tried to control the emotions boiling within.
“Yes… I-I know. I take accountability for… for it all. I hurt you the most.” Curled in on himself, I thought he’d hide, cower, but his gaze fixated on Thorne. “I know… know I can’t fix what I did. I lied… lied to you, and you?—”
Thorne trailed his tongue over his teeth, removing his hand from his stomach to do one thing that even had my skin blanching; he peeled the ring from his finger and held it out to Oren.
“So much for trusting me, right? So much for vowing to never hide anything from each other again, right? So much for vowing honesty and truth,right?”
Tears clung to Oren’s face, and he instinctively ran his thumb over his ring. “You’re r-right. I hid this from you, from everyone, and I made the vow. I broke it. I-I broke our vow.”
“Then take the fucking ring back,” Thorne demanded, his facial expression cold, detached.
“I c-can’t. I love you. I know I hurt you deeply.”
Blinking once, Thorne held Oren’s stare as he dropped the ring, its metallic clatter rolling through the back of the van. Without offering the man who held his heart another word, heturned away before returning his palm to his stomach to staunch the blood flow once more.
