The Hawthorne Legacy (The Inheritance Games, #2)

by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

I will always protect you, he’d told me. But this… us… It can’t happen, Avery.

The trick to being abandoned was to never let yourself long for anyone who left.

“What sledgehammers were put on God’s green earth to do,” Xander replied solemnly.

“Fancy meeting you here, Heiress.” “You,” I told him, “are the most annoying person on the face of the planet.”

“You two aren’t actually going to fight, are you?” I asked warily. I turned to Xander. “They’re not actually going to fight, are they?” “Who can say?” Xander replied merrily. “But perhaps you and I should wait outside in case this gets ugly.” “I’m not going anywhere,” I insisted. “Jameson, this is ridiculous.” “Not my call, Heiress.” “Grayson!” I said. He turned to look at me. “I really would prefer you wait outside.”

Est unus ex nobis. Nos defendat eius. As I’d suspected, it was Latin. An online translator told me that it meant It is one of us. We protect it. Jameson’s response, Scio, meant I know. It only took me one more search to realize that the same translation would hold if it was replaced with she. She is one of us. We protect her.

“Do you trust me, Heiress?” Jameson had donned a leather jacket. He looked like trouble. The good kind. “Not even a little,” I replied, but I took the helmet from his outstretched hand, and when he climbed onto the motorcycle, I climbed on behind him.

“No,” Max corrected. “You and I are friends. Grayson is the physical manifestation of your avoidant attachment style. He won’t let himself want you. You don’t want to want to be wanted. Everybody stays at arm’s length. Nobody gets hurt, and nobody gets any.”

This was what it meant to be a Hawthorne. This should probably be in a museum, but my brothers and I like to hit things with it instead.

“When you’re ready, if you’re ever ready, if it’s going to be me—just flip that disk. Heads, I kiss you.” His voice broke slightly. “Tails, you kiss me. And either way, it means something.”