What...did he just say?

"What did you just say?" My voice is filled with confusion as well as rage. It's an odd combination. But I have to weigh the possibilities here. Cynric has lost his mind - that's for sure. What is unfathomable to me is that he has the fucking balls to demand that out of me.

"A reverse harem? With me? And my adopted brothers?" I take a menacing step towards him. He could tell, that a woman enraged and seething like me shouldn't be messed with. He takes a cowardly step back as well. It only confirms with me that he isn't sure why he said it out loud either.

"Amy, please. The moments I spent with you were the best fucking moments of my life. I've never felt so alive in years! Please, Amy. I don't want anything from you but YOU. I'm in love with you, dammit!" Cynric is beyond recognition now!

"I don't know what you're talking about. Me? You're in love with me?" I let out a mocking laughter.

"I'll never allow that." I say, raising my head up straight and growling the words like a prideful beast. What does Cynric think of himself? We're the Frostbites. I've let him off the hook and let him fuck me in his bed because of my options. He was always a choice, even though I had other choices where police and a whole lot of scandal leaks were to be involved. This encounter was my CHOICE!

"...So be it." Through the rage coursing through me, I couldn't help but furrow my eyes at his statement. What does he mean by that?

"I'll court you openly then. I don't care if your brothers hate me, I hate them too. I need you, Amy. I want you even if I have to share you with my worst enemies." His words are making me grind my teeth till I could taste bitterness in my mouth.

"Fuck you, Cynric. I'm never opening my legs for you...ever again. Take it from me. And I know you wouldn't do that in the open knowing what the Frostbites can do to you and your family. This is going to go way past us, involving our families if you don't stop this madness. Delete my number - start moving on from me from there. Good-fucking-bye."

The words rumble out of me like spitfire. I'm not in control of my emotions. His icy blue eyes glow in the dark, right before the lustre...fades away. Cruelty is offered everywhere. I'm only giving back what he gave me.

Pain.

He wouldn't stop me from leaving now. I know it. As I walk through the door, all my assumptions turn true. He thinks of me as just a fling. He doesn't truly love me. That's what sets him apart from my adopted brothers who love me as a woman, and also...as a human. If they were ever in his place - God forbid it ever happens - I know they'll chase me to the end of hell or even to the gates of paradise.

Midway, as I walk back to Nick's hotel room, my phone dings. I check the messages, my vision clearing up as I'm not as angry as I was before. Nick's message pops up, making my eyes widen.

He texts, but it drips of concern and I can feel it. Texting back a reply quickly, I think of an excuse for my absence.

At the click of the doorknob unlocking, Nick sits up in the middle of the bed. It's dark in his room, he hadn't bothered to switch the lights on.

"Where did you go this late at night?" Nick asks as he extends his arm towards me. I abandon the clothes on top of me, and tailor a lie then and there,

"I was conflicted. Had a shower and thought a night walk around the garden would do me good." I keep my lie crisp and short. Nick pulls me into his embrace, I fall over him! We adjust in the bed, cuddled up. The warmth and the scent of his body relaxes me like no other. I'm forgetting everything that happened tonight. Everything unpleasant. And hopefully, I'll wake up to no memory of Cynric...hopefully.

"Hmm...you know you shouldn't walk out alone, right? You would've woken me up." He mumbles in his groggy voice. I can't help but chuckle.

"I will. Next time." I respond. A few moments pass, and I hear soft snores of exhaustion beside me. I turn myself away from his embrace, finding myself staring at the wall. Couldn't I be more bold on that day itself? I would have avoided all this drama. But the consequences would be unimaginable.

A gasp suddenly escapes my mouth when I feel a cold hand over my shoulder!

"What are you thinking about?"
Sounding less groggy and sleepy, Nick rests his stubbled cheek on mine.

"No- Nothing!"

"Liar. You're stumbling on your words. You wouldn't have flinched if you weren't expecting me to touch you, either. Tell me what's going on with you, Amy." Nick's voice is softer than velvet. It makes me tear up for a brief second before I gain my composure back. I turn around, burying my face in his slightly chunky chest.

"Oh, argh haha! What's up with you?" I admit that I squeezed him a tad bit tighter than usual! But I needed to channel this...energy out somehow.

"I feel so much better now, ugh. I'm just stressed about our upcoming exams and the Christmas shit we have to do." I lie, once again.

"Hmm...I know. Well, you're insisting on keeping that as a surprise. That's why we aren't prying too much. But I'm dying to know what you're going to perform or organise. I'm super curious." Nick grumbles, on the verge of falling asleep again. Swinging between slumber and smiles, he holds my face and plants a deep, sucking kiss on my cheek out of nowhere!

"That's for being so darn cute.
I love you, Amy."