Page 42 of Gravehouse

Even dressed casually, he fills the room with more power than anyone would in a suit.

How, after all the people I’ve been toe-to-toe with, is it him that brings me to my knees?

A groan distracts me from behind. “Ah, fuck. My bad...” Atlas murmurs, as Asher’s long legs eat up the space between us.

His words are for his twin but his focus never strays from me. “Get out.”

The door clicks closed as Asher rests against his desk, fingers wrapping around the edge. He squeezes so hard I swear I hear the wood splint before he releases the tension.

“Don’t.” His face stays hard as stone. “I already know.”

My mouth opens, needing him to elaborate but also fucking terrified if he’s right. “What?”

He drags his tongue across his lip, looking to the side briefly before a sarcastic chuckle leaves him. “I already know.”

My stomach bottoms out. “No, but…”

“But nothing,” he snaps, baring his teeth. “Don’t say another fucking word.”

A chill spreads through me, freezing me in place.

I fell in love with Asher because he was the opposite of the men I knew, the men I was around, the man Imarried. I loved him because he knew how to be gentle and funny, yet another side of him could be hard and protective. I saw it once and wanted more.

He’s a damn honey trap with pretty eyes.

We don’t say another word, but the world slows, failing at translating the silence that passes between us.

Finally, I shake my head. “Impossible. How long have you known?”

My chair scrapes against the floor before I realize I’m pushing away from him. “Who are you?”

How would he know exactly who we are? No one knows who we are but the people who are meant to know. Not a single intelligence in the world could scope us, so how could someone like him?

Silence stretches between us. When I think he’s not going to say anything at all, the corner of his mouth twitches.

“Mmm.” His head tilts to the side as he takes his time dragging his eyes over every inch of my body before landing back on my face. “Not very fucking nice finding out the person you fell in love with may not be who you thought they were, huh?”

“Maybe,” I say, doing my best to ignore his admission to loving me and focusing on the catastrophe of this moment. “But I didn’t lie about the fact that I fuckinglovedyou, Asher.”

Okay, that wasn’t the plan, but I guess we’re doing this now.

“Oh?” His brows shoot up. “Before or after you thought you killed me?”

My jaw locks.

Everything shrinks around me because check fucking mate. Because I know I deserve his wrath, since I fucked up first. Because no matter how many times I tell him I’m sorry, or that I truly loved him, it won’t change the fact that I still aimed a bullet right at him, point blank, and watched him die like he was the enemy.

I’m a monster.

I’m a fucking monster just like them.

I wrap my arms around myself like it’s going to stop my insides from spilling out. “I’m sorry…”

He snickers. “Ivy, I don’t want your apology. I want you to tell me who ordered it.”

Everything stops.

Time, my thoughts, my damn breathing.