50. Parker
PARKER
“Offering room. Now.” Lex’s voice is too serious as it comes through the phone to think he’s planning something fun.
My instinct is to ask what the hell he wants and come up with an excuse, but he hangs up before I get the chance to be difficult.
It hardly matters anyway. Curiosity wins me over, and I drag my feet to the door, twisting the knob and entering her space.
And I’m not the only one.
Four idiots open the door almost at the same time, glaring at one another when we all find an empty room. I narrow my eyes on Soren. “You were supposed to be with her.”
He shrugs and offers nothing. I know he wasn’t interested before, but since his little tantrum in class, I assumed he had stopped fighting his feelings.
“So we were called?” Orion asks, his eyes on Hadrian. “Even him?”
“It seems that way,” Hadrian replies and makes a beeline for the cuck chair.
“Does anyone know what this is about?” Soren asks, leaning against the wall.
“You tell us.” I push once again.
“Why does Lex get to call meetings now?” Orion complains while he makes way to the bed and lies down with his arms behind his head. “He’s not the leader.”
“No one is the leader.” Soren shakes his head.
“Yet no one calls for meetings but him, idiot,” Orion shoots back.
“If I’m an idiot, then what are you?”
A headache sparks just as the twins start to bicker.
I rub my temple, no longer interested in being here.
Right as I decide I’m not waiting for Lex, the door swings open.
Lex and Sable walk in, but Sable doesn’t look right.
Lex practically drags her as if her knees have melted under her.
Quickly, I search every detail of her body.
The parted lips, bloodshot eyes, the inexplicably soaked clothes, and disheveled hair.
“Get up,” he tells Orion, with obvious impatience in his tone. I cross my arms in front of my chest and stare at the scene in front of me.
“It’s a big bed, put her next to me.”
Lex is not in the mood to argue with him, which only concerns me more.
His face is closed off. His shoulders sit high with tension.
Lex nudges Sable to sit, and she does, without murmuring one bratty comment, which is highly unlike her.
Even Orion notices something is wrong, and he actually stands up to give her some space.
Her eyes stick to Lex, throat working as if she’s unsure of everything but him.
Why is he suddenly the center of her attention?
Her body slumps too soft, the normal liveliness gone from her sallow skin. Fear runs through me. My heart hurts to watch her like this. Her spark is the most intoxicating thing about her, and though I have no idea how, someone attempted to snuff it out.
“What happened?” I ask, my tension matching Lex’s.
He ignores me as he fusses over Sable, making sure she’s comfortable.
He wraps her in a blanket like a cocoon and sits beside her, stroking her hair.
His actions don’t sit well with me. It takes a lot for a heartless man like Lex to forget about his ego and caretake.
Yet one look at Sable’s pale face and trembling lips, and my own protective instincts kick in.
Without even knowing what’s happened, I’m sure I’d go to any length to make her whole again.
“Who left the door unlocked?” Lex asks, standing tall, eyes narrowed, surveying each one of us.
“What the fuck happened, Lex?” I shout.
“She almost fucking died. Now, tell me who left the damn door open.” My voice shakes with my fury.
We all turn to Hadrian. Of course, this motherfucker would be the one not following the rules. Hadrian chuckles. “I’m not a fucking moron. How about you ask your best friend?”
There’s no way he’s accusing Soren. Why would Soren do anything to put Sable in danger when he doesn’t even want time with her?
“You have a lot of nerve to blame him.” I step forward, hungry for another shot at his face.
Sable’s hoarse voice stops me in my tracks. “That’s not important.”
“So you know who it was, then?” I demand. I can’t stand the fact that she’s hurt, how low and exhausted her voice sounds. I want to tear the world apart just to stop the noise in my head. Things haven’t been right between us since our fight, and I can’t stand it.
“It was me,” Soren confesses, surprising us all except Hadrian. The room changes temperature, and my knuckles cracking is the only thing interrupting the silence. I process what he just said, fury consuming the oxygen in my lungs. I gulp in a breath, trying to replace it, and curse as I exhale.
“Soren? Really?” I ask, my disappointment leaking into my tone. I hope he feels the weight of it. “I know you didn’t want anything to do with her, but you didn’t have to endanger her.”
“You don’t even know what happened. Maybe me letting her out wasn’t the problem.” He knows everything we do to ensure the Offering’s security. Is this payback for us refusing to respect his boundaries? I don’t blame him for being pissed, but when did he get vindictive enough to take it out on her?
“Are you fucking stupid?” Lex spits, walking toward Soren with an expression I’ve never seen before. “Your little fucking girlfriend and her gang tried to kill Sable. If it’s not your fault, then whose is it?”
Tension cracks in the air as Lex closes in on Soren.
His hand tightens into a fist while the other takes Soren’s collar.
“You let Arabella get away with too much shit, and now she’s stepped too far.
It is your fault in every way.” Lex pushes him into the wall, violence steaming off him, and none of us go to Soren’s defense.
No one but her.
“Stop. It is not his fault. Did he hold my head in a fucking bucket?” Her tone holds her normal fire, but her voice is so weak, all I want to do is wring Arabella’s neck with my bare hands.
What the fuck do they mean? She shoved Sable in a bucket?
She looks so small in the bed, but her jaw is set and her eyes are narrow.
Sable climbs out of bed and stands to her full height.
It shouldn’t be that impressive in a room full of people more than a foot taller than her, but it is.
“It doesn’t matter who let me out. I left on my own, and I’ll deal with those bitches on my own, too.”
“They would have killed you if I didn’t stop them,” Lex says, drawing a nasty look from Sable. “You were already unconscious.” That news turns my vision red.
“And I might kill you if no one stops me,” she says, shaking her head.
The more she presses her voice, the more it sounds like she swallowed shards of glass.
A million different wants wrestle inside me.
I want to ask her questions, cuddle her, and tell her it’s okay not to talk.
More than any of those things, though, I want to kill Arabella Aragona and Liliana Davenport for everything they’ve done to Sable.
“I’m going to take a shower and wash this miserable day off me,” she says, making her way to the bathroom and closing the door.