Wicked Honey (18+)

Chapter 43

"Grey, are you_"

"You just can't wait to leave? To be anywhere else? To be free of us?" Grey snaps. "Is that right?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" I raise my voice to match his. I'd never backed down from Grey before and I wasn't going to start now.

Grey looks like he wants to strangle me but he just starts pacing in front of the bed. Running his hands through his hair like he's gone mad. "Everything, all of this. This was nothing to you? Arrow is nothing to you?"

My heart aches at the thought of leaving Arrow. At the thought of leaving either of them. "It's not about that, Grey. It's not safe anymore. Not for me and Meghan."

Grey's dark eyes flash as he sends me a glare. "Are we not enough to protect you? The whole fucking city is mine, Ivy. What more do you want?"

I stare at him, not understanding where any of this was coming from. I thought that Grey would be thrilled when I left the city. When I took my sister and left him without anymore loose ends. Why is he suddenly acting like I've stabbed him in the back?

"I don't underst_"

"I found that listing."

My eyebrows furrow. "What?"

"The hit," Grey snaps. "On you. I found it." The gears in my head shift as I take in the new information. "Arrow would've never found it. He doesn't check those sites."

I stare at him. Still not fully understanding what he's trying to tell me.

But he doesn't tell me. He just turns on stalks out.

What the hell just happened?

***

Arrow comes in later to redress my stomach. I wasn't sure how long it'd been but we we're definitely flying now and had been for a while.

He doesn't speak. And the familiar sarcastic glint in his eye, is gone. Grey must've spoken to him. Though I wasn't sure what it was that pissed them off so thoroughly.

"What did he say to you?" I ask as Arrow's fingers move expertly over my skin. I don't look. I don't want to know what it looks like.

"That you're leaving," He murmurs absentmindedly. "And to get you anything you and your sister might need when we get back to Sin Sity."

"Anything else?" I squeeze my eyes shut. Trying to ignore the ache in my chest. It hurts so much worse than my stomach.

"To let you go."

The words sink my bleeding heart.

I didn't want them too. I didn't want them to move on. I didn't want them to find someone else. But this wasn't real. None of it was for them. I couldn't fool myself into believing all this meant something.

They weren't going to run away with me.

They weren't going to run away from the life they chose. The life they clearly loved.

"He told me that he found the listing," I say, wishing I could see Arrow's face and watch his reaction. "What did he mean?"

Arrow lightly presses a fresh gauze against my skin and I hiss at the pain.

"You're so damn stubborn." Arrow breathes out. This time I crane my neck and look down at him. But his face is a mask. Hidden beneath shadows. "What do you really think you are to him?"

I let my head fall back and put my hand over my face. "I'm a means to an_"

"To an end... right," Arrow laughs but there's no humor there. He sounds almost angry. "If that's true, why'd he send me to save your ass when he found the listing?"

My mouth falls open, searching for a response that doesn't come. I look down and watch Arrow shake his head. "He could've gotten away with just letting you die. I would've never known. But he didn't. He had half the fucking city looking for you."

That's what he was trying to tell me when he told me that he found the listing.

Arrow's anger felt so much different than Grey's. When Grey got mad at me, I screamed back him. We went head to head. We we both way too head strong and stubborn for our own good. But with Arrow.. he was always so calm. So happy. And now, now that he was mad at me, I wanted to crawl in a hole and never come up. It made me feel sick to my stomach.

"But everything is different.. I can't expect _" I try to form something but he cuts me off. Pushing off the bed, careful not to move me.

"Nothing is different! We searched for you for six days. We were ready to take on your fathers entire mob then. Nothing changed. We're still ready to do that! Grey was ready to do that! And then you opened your fucking mouth."

I shake my head.

It's not going to end like this.

If they wanted me the way that I wanted them... then.. then what? I'd stay? Stay in Sin Sity and risk getting them killed for my fathers insane marriage plot? How could I let that happen? But how could I leave? Leave knowing that they felt the same that I did? Well maybe they did... that was still unclear. But would I  just leave knowing that they were ready to fight for me and fight for whatever we were?

"Go get Grey," I say, trying to keep my voice strong.

Arrow gives me a deadpan look. One that says it's too late for that.

Maybe it is. Maybe it's to late to try and talk all of this out. But I'll be damned if I didn't try.

"We're going to talk about this like civilized fucking people." I snap.

This- for whatever reason- brings a small smile to Arrow's face. He just shakes his head for the millionth time and walks out towards the front of the jet.

He returns a few minutes later with a fuming Grey at his heels.

"What?" Grey grates at me.

"What is the farm to you?"

Grey looks shocked. It's the first time I'd ever seen that look on his face. Normally he seemed so calm. So all knowing. But my question caught him off guard.

"What the hell is this?" Grey turns on Arrow. "Why is she asking about the farm?"

I push up in the bed, my stomach hurts like a bitch but ignore it as I prop myself against the headboard.

"Hey!" I call his attention back to me. "If you want me to stay in Sin Sity, we're going to have to be honest with each other. No matter how much we hate it." Grey just glares at me as I shift my eyes between the two of them. "We have at least six hours of this flight left and I have at least three hours worth of questions, so get ready."