Chapter 18

ASHER

"I beg your pardon?!" She asks, pushing him away. She puts her hands on her hips. "Could you repeat what you just said?" Damn, she can be sexy when she gets mad, but Knox seems completely freaked out.

"I... It's silly, I spoke without thinking." He stammers.

"Then what? The whole thing was a fucking charade? You weren't going to let me choose all along? You pretended to be interested in my opinion."

"Absolutely not." Jax tells him as he stands up, and I don't know why I have a feeling this prick is going to fuck it up. "Me, I was interested in how you felt and I was against forcibly marking you." What did I say? He blew it.

"Well thanks." Her nostrils flare and she starts pacing. "I've given myself over to you. I told you I liked you, but all that wouldn't have changed anything no matter what. So go ahead! Mark me!" She shouts, stretching her neck. "That's how you do it, isn't it?"

"Okay, everybody calm down." I tell them as I get up from the couch. "We were all very emotional yesterday and said things we didn't mean. Even though your rejection would have literally broken our hearts, we would have come to accept it and never gone against your wishes." I add, placing my hands on her arms. I make up and down movements and she calms down. I hear her heart rate slow and kiss the top of her head. "I'm sorry. Obviously I didn't have the best of approaches to explain to you what we are. I didn't mean to upset you. Neither of us did. It must be very hard to understand our point of view, but you mean everything to us. We'll never treat you the way your ex-husband treated you. I'm not saying we'd never make a mistake, but it would never be intentional. I promise you that."

"I promise you that too." My two brothers add in one voice.

Her shoulders drop, but I sense that having the three of us around makes her a little uncomfortable. And even if it kills me to admit it, I can understand.

"Knox and I will leave you and Jax. We wanted to make sure you were okay and you are." I tell her before slapping Knox's arm to get him to follow me. He looks at me like I've lost my mind.

"You're welcome to stay. If you like." She adds quickly afterwards. I hate that she hasn't figured out yet that if we could, we'd spend every minute of every day with her. We need her, it's vital.

"We'll stay as long as you'll let us." I tell her, turning before reaching the front door.

"You know what? I'm going to make us a great breakfast. We obviously woke you up... but you look beautiful as always, believe me." Knox told her, adding the last part quickly. "Then join us at our place when you're ready." He hands her a piece of paper. "The code for the elevator." He adds with a wink.

She nods with a small smile.

My brothers and I exit the apartment together and I press the elevator button. I sigh, relieved at how far things have come. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Knox tapping away on his smartphone.

"What are you doing?" I ask him.

The elevator doors open and the three of us step inside. As I type in the apartment code, Knox looks up from his phone. "Huh I'm ordering breakfast."

"You just told her you were going to make one." Jax tells him exasperated.

"With what? We've barely got anything in the fridge, plus I don't know what she likes. At least we'll have something to choose from."

Jax pinches the bridge of his nose. "I thought we were done with the lies."

"Oh don't worry I'll confess my sin later."

"You're hopeless." He replies.

I watch them bicker, as usual, and realize that we'll be living together forever. The only time in my life I've ever been separated from them was during my studies. Despite our different characters, it's always been complicated for us to be separated from each other, and now I understand why. It was all a plan by the Moon Goddess, it was all meant to be.

We enter our place and I watch Jax go straight to his room. I'm a little jealous of his relationship with Isabella. He's the closest to her and he spent the night with her. Even though I don't think anything happened, we clearly interrupted something when we arrived. Also, she always seems a bit on guard with me, uncomfortable whereas she's always relaxed with my brothers. I'd like her to be relaxed with me too. I'd like her to smile at me, snuggle up to me and trust me. I don't care if everyone else fears me, but that's not the feeling I want Isabella to have when she looks at me.

"I can hear the gears turning in your head from here." I hadn't even noticed Knox was in the kitchen with me. "I agree to give you free rein tonight. And I'm sure Jax will agree too." I look at him with furrowed brows. "I've seen the way she reacts when you're near her and I've also seen what it provokes in you."

"I make her uncomfortable." I find myself confiding in him.

"You're the one she's spent the least time with. She doesn't know you. She's your mate, so she's obviously made for you."

"I know that." I reply, frowning.

I hate feeling like this, I prefer to have all the cards in my hand and when faced with her I feel helpless.

I hear whistling and Jax comes out of the hall in jeans, shirtless and drying his hair.

Knox grunts. "Get dressed, you asshole!"

Jax laughs before turning back. "You're jealous of my dream body!" He shouts over his shoulder.