Page 151 of The Bonding Games: Part 1

Covering his wince from the blow, Alby hesitantly reaches out for me again from where his hands had come to rest over his stomach. “Please don’t go. Please don’t leave us, Ezla. Please don’t leave me.”

Something in me wounds tight then. Like I might . . . like there is something hot and wet trying to escape my eyes.

I blink the sensation back.

The room has fallen into a deathly silence. Tiger and Scotty have managed to break apart Cooper and Tate, and now they are all stood there, staring at me.

Swallowing to regain my composure, I tense my jaw. “Do not. Make. Me. Stay.” The words are gritted out with acrimony coating them, and yet it sounds to my own ears as if I am begging for the opposite.

Do not let me leave. Do not let me go to him.

But I do not beg. And I never will.

“Don’t. Go.” Alby’s reply is said with surprising vigour, voice a little rougher than usual.

And then he throws his arms around me.

Clutching on to me desperately, he rests his cheek on the top of my head, and I can only stand here stiffly, tucked into him, while he shakes like a leaf, his heart pitter-pattering against me like a bird trying to break free of its cage. “Stay,” he rasps. “Please. I . . . I love you.”

My spine is ramrod straight again where it quite possibly had relaxed, if only fractionally.

“No—” He holds on to me tighter when he feels me shifting away. “P-please. I-I do—I love you. Y-you can feel it—and now I’m telling you. Please don’t take that from me.”

I swallow hard, not appreciating the uncomfortable twist inside of me.

“I love you,” he repeats once more, resolution spilling into his tone, fingers digging into my back. “And I—I want to be able to love all of you. But I can’t do that if you don’t share all of you . . .”

That is the most I have ever heard him speak at once.

“I do not want anyone’s love. Love is bad.”

Fuck. That last part was not meant to slip out.

And they all latch onto it like a missile locking onto its target.

“What was that?” Cooper says lowly, stepping forwards. “What did you say, Vengeance?”

I do not like his tone, as if he has figured out something he should not have and is only looking for confirmation on his suspicions.

Alby pulls back but takes my hand in his clammy one, a nervous yet determined look on his flushed face. “Please can you come and sit down? And . . . and we can just talk. About you?” At the way my nose wrinkles with distaste, he rushes on, “It can be anything! It doesn’t have to be anything . . . anything difficult. Just things we don’t know.”

“I disagree,” Cooper says bluntly, eyes narrowed on me.

I can admire him not wasting my time with lies, no matter how rude he is being.

“Careful how you speak to my Havoc, shithead,” the big guy rumbles darkly, the muscles in his robust arms bulging as his fists clench, and a small shiver crawls through me.

Hmmm . . . I did like that.

You know what they say—violence is a girl’s best friend.

Cooper’s jaw works. “Ezla, I’m not trying to be a fucking asshole, okay?” Yes—I understand that comes naturally. “I’m just— I care about you, and you’re in fucking agony all the time, even when you act like you’re untouchable.”

“I am untouchable.”

An enraged growl and he jabs a finger at me. I will bite it off. “See, this is the problem here!”

“There is no problem other than your anger issues.”