\u201cI thought\u2026 I mean\u2026 yeah,\u201d I said softly. \u201cWe aren\u2019t\u2026\u201d I couldn\u2019t finish the sentence; I hated how vulnerable and weak I sounded at this moment.<\/p>\n
He cupped my face with his hands, forcing me to keep my gaze on his.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t fuck multiple women at once, Judy,\u201d he told me firmly. \u201cIt\u2019s messy and never ends well. I\u2019m old enough to know better, don\u2019t you think?\u201d<\/p>\n
I nod slowly; I shouldn\u2019t have assumed the worst about him. But if he only saw it from my perspective\u2026 how would he feel if a guy answered my door and he was wrapped in only a towel.<\/p>\n
I shuddered at the thought; that\u2019s something Ethan would do and honestly, I\u2019m surprised he hadn\u2019t yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw her in a bathrobe, Gavin. How would you have felt if the roles were reversed?\u201d<\/p>\n
His eyes darkened at my words, the image sinking in and making him feel like shit.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou should know me better than that by now,\u201d he told me, his tone almost cold, though there was a twinge of hurt.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry,\u201d I whispered. \u201cYou\u2019re right. I shouldn\u2019t have assumed the worst. But we need to focus on the bigger picture. Ethan is out there, planning shit. He did this, Gavin. That\u2019s terrifying.\u201d<\/p>\n
He nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I will find him and make him answer for his crimes. You should get back to the suite for the night. I don\u2019t trust him not to show up here and try something.\u201d<\/p>\n
He released me and suddenly I felt cold without his touch. I bit my lower lip and nodded, hating how distant we still felt from one another. If there was one thing that this whole thing taught me, it was that maybe I didn\u2019t trust him as much as I thought I did.<\/p>\n
Did I ever trust him?<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are you going to go?\u201d I asked him after a beat of silence.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t worry about that,\u201d he said with a gruff voice. \u201cI have something to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
I nodded and without another word, I went back to my suite. Nan, Chester, Irene, and Matt were in the room when I turned. Nan and Chester were packing their things, while Irene sat on the bed, looking like a ghost of herself. Matt was on the couch, scrolling through his phone mindlessly.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s going on?\u201d I asked Nan who paused her packing when she noticed me at the doorway.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur flight is tomorrow. I figured it\u2019d be better if we prepared,\u201d she told me with a shrug. \u201cI assume we\u2019ll be leaving quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n
I nodded in agreement.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, we will definitely be leaving quickly,\u201d I told her. \u201cI\u2019m sorry that this entire trip<\/p>\n
is messy, Nan. The last thing you wanted was messy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you kidding me? This trip was awesome. Plus, you won the fucking competition, and I got to see it firsthand. Totally worth it,\u201d she said with a grin.<\/p>\n
\u201cPretty awesome that you won,\u201d Chester said, giving me a high five.<\/p>\n
I looked at Irene, who wasn\u2019t engaging in conversation, but I could tell from the fact that she wasn\u2019t in her own suite that she wanted to be around people. I sat beside her on the bed and gave her a sympathetic look.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you okay?\u201d I asked her.<\/p>\n
She blinked a few times and shook her head, releasing some tears that fell onto her cheeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t believe he was here, and he didn\u2019t come find me,\u201d she whispered. \u201cI truly meant nothing to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEthan isn\u2019t worth your time, Irene. thought you knew that by now,\u201d I told her gently. \u201cHe\u2019s manipulative. I mean look at the mess he\u2019s made in such a short time.\u201d noveldrama<\/p>\n
She nodded and nibbled on her lower lip.<\/p>\n
\u201cA part of me still loves him and I hate myself for it,\u201d she whispered.<\/p>\n
I knew that all too well; having Ethan as my fated mate made things extra complicated. When he was around, my wolf was still drawn to him because she felt a bond. She will I be able to feel it until he either marks another, or other marks me, replacing his mark completely. For a long time, Ethan was my everything. Growing up, he was my best friend. Then I found out he was a mate, and<\/p>\n
I was over the moon, but now I<\/p>\n
regret every little thing and I\u2019m questioning if any of it was ever real, or some bit elaborate plan to break me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe aren\u2019t going to let him get away with this,\u201d I say, putting my hand on her knee.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe will regret the day that he fucked with us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sara is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland\u2019s breathtaking cold.<\/p>\n
We Built a Kingdom From Ashes That Still Remembered Love by Aila Frost 397 \u201cI thought\u2026 I mean\u2026 yeah,\u201d I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-shadow-slave-by-author-novelnozi-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21466\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}