2021, February 14th
(Maine, Caspira)
AIDEN
"This baby," said Nathan, pulling the panic button he'd stuck under the table in case off the bottom of the table. "Yes, we are definitely friendly in case you were wondering." Nathan smirked. "If you know what I mean."
And there it was. The other shoe. The other guy. I wasn't in any position to be giving Elena shit because Nathan was hitting on her. The guy's range didn't go beyond assassin and hitting on anything that moved. But the way she was looking at him, that same frustration in her eyes that he had been so taken with just a moment ago, made me want to be less reasonable. Less sensible. Less anything that didn't include punching the guy making eyes at my girl.
"We're not friendly, we're not anything!" Elena snapped.
"Then how did his button get stuck under your table, Em?" I countered.
I had half a mind to tell her we were over then and there. I couldn't deal with another guy. Not again, not after John.
"It's complicated," Elena answered.
"What she means is while you were doing my sister for six months, we were… getting acquainted," Nathan amended, winking at Elena.
"She's seat number twelve," Keira said more than asked, walking away from the Purple Guard soldiers as they led Kate away.
"She sure is," Nathan answered, his eyes still wandering all over Elena, ogling her shamelessly.
Keira and Elena walked up to each other, each sizing the other up. Keira broke eye contact first. Her eyes darted to me.
"You sure know how to pick 'em, don't you Denny? Looks like I should have kept you after all or at least picked the woman for you," said Keira.
Her jab stung more than it should have. Just when I thought we were past all this bullshit. So much for Elena and I being honest and real.
"What are they talking about, Em?" I implored,frustrated, spinning her around to look into her grey eyes.
"What happened to not having this conversation with them here?" she spat back, equally unnerved.
"You must really go to town on your women, because you never seem to know what's going on with them beyond screwing them," said Nathan, ever cool and unfazed.
We were cut from the same cloth. I was usually that guy. But the women in front of me alongside Stormhold's most notorious player were going to my head. I lost my cool and moved to lunge at Nathan. Elena caught my arm and held me back.
"Let's go. We have to see Kate. You already defied me once today. I wouldn't try it a second time if I were you, Nate," said Keira.
Just like that, Keira and her siblings disappeared, just as swiftly as they'd shown up. I didn't have time to think about how I felt, however, as I went straight into squaring off with Elena.
The Dormers leaving did nothing to repair the damage they'd caused. As we had one of our to the death arguments, the night got away from us. We went right back to being petty, angry and insecure.
"Explain!" I yelled.
"I could ask the same of you. What were you thinking? Was the idea of being with me so revolting that you had to get involved with someone who almost killed you?" Elena retorted.
Two hours into yelling the same shit at each other without making any progress, I saw the defeated look in her eyes and knew it was time to stop. I took the seat next to her at the table.
"Nothing I do is ever going to be enough, is it? You're always going to question everything I do or say, always going to wonder what I'm hiding." She frowned.
I turned my chair towards her and then pulled hers towards me. Elena would probably always have another shoe. There would always be something else. I knew that about her before I agreed to this dinner. Her eyes said that something else didn't mean someone else though. She was in this with me and that made her more than enough.
"You're really going to make me say this? I didn't let you walk out the door because I didn't want to stop you, El. You're you, the Elena Moore!"
"What the hell does that mean?"
"If I'm going to be with you, it has to be just you running through my mind, no one else. Not her, not anyone who came before her, just you. Like it was always supposed to be. Like I wanted it to be from the moment I first laid eyes on you. I want this to be the one that works too, El."
She sighed and took my hands in hers, bracing herself to let me in.
"The CEO of Moore Industries has a seat at the table of The House of Assassins. The table has twelve people. When I took over Moore Industries, I was offered the final seat. Seat number twelve."
I squeezed her hands. I wanted to yell at her and say I didn't want her doing dangerous, shady shit. The questions I had about Nathan were endless, but I bit my tongue. She wasn't really mine yet.
We were just starting out. She needed me to just accept her, the way I used to, no matter what she said or didn't say. As long as I did that, she'd do the same for me.
"Just don't do anything stupid without telling me, okay? Be straight with me, Em. That's all I'm asking for."
"What about them? Nathan and I—"
"Let's make that the last time those words come out of your mouth. I did shit, you did shit. There were other people. People we put between us instead of being together. I'm not doing that again. You're hot when you're jealous, but I'm done playing games. It's you El. You and me. It's finally our time. You're not the only one desperate to be believed."
I reached out for her face and cupped her cheek and she leaned into my touch. Relief flooded my body as we both sighed.
"Some first date huh?" she laughed half-heartedly.
"Good thing it wasn't a date date."
I grinned at her and we burst out laughing.
"How about I get you super drunk so I can steal a kiss just like I used to?"