Perish: Book Three (bxb) ✔️

30. Your words, not mine.

Kayax Adler

Lennox hiked an awaiting brow as I stared at him like I was trying to figure out what answer he wanted to hear. No, we couldn't pull the people please quality out from the back of my brain. It was time for the truth. But holy shit, he had no idea how the fate of my relationship rested in his hands. 

Mama broke me out of my thoughts, nodding her head toward Lennox. "Go on, now. Tell him how long you been datin' August. He asked you a question; now answer it."

I blinked as I batted my eyes between Lennox and my mother. "Uh, almost nine months."

I swore on everything alive in this universe that Lennox's eyes almost popped out of his head. He was trying to factor out how that could be possible. I think I heard a few gasps from the family, and I tried not to take offense to their shock. I didn't, but I wondered what they were so surprised about.

Lennox was mumbling words that didn't even make sense. I watched as he tried to construct a sentence. I was glued in place. I couldn't tell if what I said was a bad thing or a good thing. Hell, I had the tendency to think it was a bad thing all the time, but finding out your son lied for almost nine months couldn't have scored me points.

However, it wasn't that he lied; he hid the truth from them. I hoped they'd understand; I truly did because everything I faced with Lennox was everything I feared. I walked off August's property when I was supposed to walk inside and have dinner with him. I was supposed to sleep over because we hardly ever got to have those, and I was so excited.

"I feel like my brain is exploding." Lennox's eye twitched as he leaned closer to my face. I jerked back slightly but stayed still otherwise. I had no fucking idea what was happening right now. "You've been dating my boy for nine months? Nine? Like, as in an upside-down number six? Nine?!"

I blinked rapidly when he shouted right in my face. "Yes."

He backed away quickly, and I flinched at the suddenness. Lennox started pacing in front of me. "You know what's funny? I thought, maybe... maybe at most, you two had been together for a month. You have that fun talking stage, or... whatever transpired between the two of you, so yeah, August got close to you. It's beside the point that I thought you trapped him with a bear trap and dragged him into your basement--"

"I live in an apartment."

"--and convinced him to be with you, then you freed him. But I figured, eh, still couldn't have been that long because I thought for sure I would have known about it." He stopped in front of me, his gaze narrowed again. "How the Hell did he get past me? Granted, fine, I was in our home state--"

"Colorado. You can say Colorado. I know where you live."

Lennox open-mouth stared at me. "Oh, my fucking god. August told you about our annual family games, didn't he?! That's why you said this was all for you! Because you knew we'd already had our family games back in June!"

I slowly nodded. "Yes, I knew. August was gone for the entire weekend."

"You walked in here with so much power, and you didn't wield it. You wielded your own. Minus that comment at the beginning about him hurting."

"Ah, I was hoping you'd goad me with how he was doing, but your anger ended up answering the question for me. I genuinely wanted to know."

He threw his hands up. "Don't know, he won't talk to me. Or Salem. And Why won't Salem talk to me? I mean, okay, yes, he and his brother are very close, but he--"