His reaction was truly the nail in the coffin. His eyes widened. He licked his lips. He hungered for Alessandro. His choice was clear. Their romance was far from over. Alessandro won.
“You okay?” Alessandro asked before dropping the towel and grabbing a pair of boxers from his pile of clothes.
“Yes,” Nix and I said at the same time. Oh. He wasn’t talking to me. I needed to get used to being second best again.
Alessandro turned to Nix as he put on a pair of athletic shorts. Nix’s Adam's apple bobbed. I couldn’t sit here any longer. Alessandro was staking his claim, and there was nothing I could do about it. I refused to fight for someone who didn’t want me back.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Melbourne,” Alessandro answered. “Then maybe New Zealand. We need to keep moving until we come up with a plan. And I know some friends in Melbourne that’ll let us stay with them so we won’t have to worry about this...organization owning the hotel we book.”
My mouth dropped open in shock. The people we were running from owned this hotel? “Okay,” I answered nonchalantly. “Let’s go.”
I was fucking exhausted. I needed to sleep. I didn’t care where we went as long as I could close my eyes for a bit and lick my wounds. I wanted to cry in private and possibly drink away my pain. “I’m not going with you,” Nix argued.
“Yes. You are,” Alessandro urged. I watched the two of them stare at one another for a lingering moment. It hurt to watch them trapped in their love for one another. Alessandro stalked over to Nix’s defeated form and grabbed his hands, forcing him to stand up. I couldn’t stop looking. I didn’t want to. I needed to see the evidence of their love if I had any hopes of moving on.
“We will figure this out. I refuse to let you go back to them.”
“And I refuse to put you at risk,” Nix snapped.
Ouch. The love between them was so heavy around me I could have choked on it. “And I refuse to sit here and get killed. Let’s go and stop wasting time,” I interrupted, making them both turn to look at me. It was like they’d forgotten I was in the room.
I grabbed our suitcase and fled for the door, hoping at least Alessandro would follow after me. Would he stop caring now? Would he stop feeling overprotective now that he knew Nix didn’t care about me? I stepped out into the hall and faced them for one last look just as the door was shutting. Alessandro was stroking his cheek. Nix looked longingly up at him.
My heart broke that moment. And I’d let the pieces stay shattered in my chest. I’d never give someone the power to break me again.
Chapter Ten
Alessandro
I kept looking in the rearview mirror at Grace. She hadn’t said a word during the ten-hour drive here. Not a peep. I tried to pull a sassy conversation out of her, but she didn’t bother to pick up on my nagging. She was a shell of a girl. She was everything I’d feared I would become when we found Nix.
Nix held my hand in the car, and I knew it was bothering her. I couldn’t help myself where he was involved, but I expected her to fight more for him. Hell, I wanted her to.
Shit. What was I saying?
I was really conflicted, and seeing her vacant expression as she stared out the window made my chest ache. I was bouncing between being thrilled to have Nix with me and sad that somewhere along the trip, we lost Grace. “Who are your friends?” Nix asked. He kept eyeing the road with trepidation. He’d been conditioned to look over his shoulder these last few years, and I hated that he was so terrified. We needed to have a serious conversation about what all he’d told me, but we couldn’t do that until we were safe.
“After you left the vigilante group, an Australian named John joined. I’ve never actually met the guy, but we’ve been online friends for years. We both left it around the same time and kept in touch. I’m certain he will let us stay a couple of days.”
“You’re foolish to trust anyone in the vigilante group,” Nix growled. “They’re the ones that got me caught up in this mess.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean they sold me out. Told the Ringleaders about my hacking skills. If you’re taking us back to them, then I want out of the car right now. All of this is ridiculous. We’re never getting out of here.”
I hated that Nix had become so afraid of the world that he’d lost his optimism and lighthearted views. “We can trust John. You can trust me.” I squeezed his hand and turned to glance at him. “I promise.”
“How much longer?” Grace asked with a huff. She had her head turned and her forehead pressed against the glass window of our rental car. She was avoiding looking at us in the front seat.
“About twenty more minutes. You okay back there? Need more pain medicine for your injuries?” I asked. We were all delirious from lack of sleep, and I wasn’t even sure how she was functioning right now. I needed to rub some ointment onto her bruises and look at a few of her cuts to make sure they weren’t infected. When was the last time she ate? Had water? Fuck.
“Nope. I’m good.”
“Why does she need pain medicine?” Nix asked. His voice was accusatory. He might have tried to push Grace away, but it was blatantly obvious he still cared. I’d caught him stealing stealthy looks at her the entire trip here.
“Because we were almost blown up while trying to get to you,” Grace snapped. Ah, there was that fire I loved. “I’m fine. I’m not hurting that much. I just want to lie down in a bed, call my brother,
