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Rules and laws don’t apply to me

I’m a rule-breaker, curse-maker, life-stealer

The minute I’d finished, my hands balled, and the devil’s advocate whispered inmy jaw, I forced e Repeating the mantra, I slowly fell under its hypnosis My back relaxed, the knots inMy sweaty palms went paper dry and cold, while

Finally

The cal everything frigid and controllable in its path

Everything aboutyears old was a carefully designed and executed illusion

Up till now, I’d survived

I’d buried the true me beneath a man so cold and perfect--even I believed--ain, a hairline fracture would show in lacier shell

And my father would notice

And he would…‘fix’ h to fix ht before, so as I having such difficulty now?

The thawing had happened too fast Normally, I could pass a feeeks, sometimes more, before I ever needed to be fixed But Nila Weaver was the sun upon e and grow Not freeze and remain forever unh her invasion into my senses and survive her stay with us I just didn’t know if I had the strength to do it

Shaking away that terrible thought, I prowled forward

The sounds of men ca froht past her as I hts The sounds of conversation est sound iht by

I slammed to a halt outside my brother’s rooain

Laughter

Fehter

And it wasn’t cynical or full of conteht-hearted and relaxed

The lyrical sound twisted ed into Kestrel’s apart with no knock, no request, and sla of wingbacks, sh

What The Fuck?

Kes looked up, his mouth spread into a broad smile "Jet! Nice of you to join us" His tone was a direct contradiction to his welco to understand how onisingWhat was his deal?

I stupidly felt betrayed--worse than betrayed--provoked

Nila’s laugh cut off as she sat straighter in her chair Her cheeks were flushed, annoyance at all to be annoyed at ed to o check on the…" Clearing his throat, he uys later"

With a sideways look atit behind hione, I seethed, "Care to explain what’s going on?"

Kes stood up "Calm down and no, I don’t You don’t have to understand everything, Jet" Throwing a quick grin at Nila, he asked, "Unless you’d care to tell my brother what’s so funny?"

Nila stared at me coldly A second ticked past, then another, her teh the chest

"Well?" My heart pounded, once again shrugging out of the frosty shield in favour of rage

Finally, she shook her head "No I don’t think he deserves to know"

Okay…that was just plain rude

Kes snickered "Fair enough"

My teeth al Why had I been worried about what I was about to do to her? She made me believe she cared--just a little--about me She’d sucked me off for Christ’s sake She’d asked me to fuck her She was attracted to me I knew that

Just like I was attracted to her

Soready to slam inside her wet heat and finally show her the truth That no ht oror intriguing

But she’d manipulated me

She’d usedI’d been fighting for the right to gain her trust, only for her to give it toratulations on winning once again, Ms Weaver" Pointing at the ground by my shoes, I ordered coldly, "Coet this over with"

Nila tilted her chin insolently "I didn’t knoere fighting for so her question, I repeated "Co us as if ere his favourite volleyball racefully from her seat In her hands, she held the Weaver journal, which she stroked reverently, before transferring it from her lap and onto the chair she’d just vacated Her actions were stiff, back ra, Jethro Merely finding friends in the unlikely of places"

I froze as she moved toward Kestrel

He opened his arms

She walked into his e embrace

I couldn’t understand

I didn’t want to understand

She prefers him over you, idiot She can see you’re different She can sense you’re screwed up

The hug lasted far longer than --I had no tolerance level

Kes was ed to ainst me