Chapter 31
Wyatt
“Well?” I snapped when no one replied.
River panted heavily, but he only stared at me with a blank expression. He was more bruised than Aiden, his cheekbone and under-eye quickly turning purple. There was a cut across his cheek with some dried blood down to his chin, but other than that and his burnt fingertips, he seemed fine.
Aiden only had a scrape on his chin, which meant he must’ve been the one to initiate the attack, jumping River when he wasn’t ready. I didn’t like that, but I really didn’t like the look River was giving Aiden. And most importantly, I didn’t have time for this shit.
I’d slept like shit in my apartment, so I headed over to the dorm just in time for the sounds of a threesome to serenade me for half the night.
Not that I knew it was a threesome at first. I didn’t know what the fuck Aiden or Rafe had been doing to her, but Skye…was making sounds I’d never heard in my life.
Now, I had paperwork to file over the photographer I’d buried this morning, and I couldn’t reschedule any more student appointments. Carissa had requested another meeting with me, then included Coach on the email, and I really, really could not reschedule anymore student appointments.
And I still hadn’t had any coffee.
“How did you do that?” River demanded.
“What?” Aiden shook his head. “With my fist. Like this–”
“How did you fucking burn me?!” River cried.
“River,” I stepped forward, and he took two steps back, turning his blue gaze on me.
“And you? How’d…” River shook his head like he was suddenly confused.
“Do you need a Healer?” I asked. I’d instinctively reached out to touch his shoulder, but paused, noticing how his arms still glowed.
River shook his head, staring at his hands. “No. It’s…I’m fine.”
I didn’t fully believe him. He seemed a little dazed, like maybe the punch to his face had rattled his brain a bit. He could’ve had a concussion.
“Alright. Well, I have a meeting in ten minutes. I don’t have time for whatever the fuck this was, so you’re all getting detention.”
“Bro!” Aiden cried.
“Not your bro,” I snapped.
“We’re definitely bros,” Aiden grumbled.
I ignored him.
River still stared at his hands then shook his head, his eyes a little glazed over. “I’m fine.”
“River…I don’t think you’re fine. How about I walk you to the Health clinic?” I offered, even though I really didn’t have time. The look in his eyes was wrong, though. He needed to get checked. My healing affinity seemed to be vibrating in my palms.
“Okay,” he said, a little too compliant.
I glared at Aiden, who only gave me a bloody grin as he backed away in the direction where my sister and Mia were not-so-subtly hiding behind a tree, watching everything while waiting for him.
The three of them took off running as soon as Aiden reached the tree. I scowled after them, then turned back to River, who was staring at his hands with a look of horror.
“River?”
He startled at the sound of my voice, then blinked hard.
“Do…are you gonna…call my parents?”
“Not unless you want me to,” I replied.
River’s shoulders slumped in relief. “No. No, Ak–” He winced, then held his head. “No. She’ll worry. She worries a lot.”
“Okay. I won’t call them. Come on,” I said, taking his arm and pulling him along. “You don’t look so good.”
We walked in silence nearly the entire way to the Health clinic. River was walking straight except for when he looked down at his hands. His feet faltered more than once, and I had to catch his shoulder to right him.
Suddenly, he stopped in the path, holding his head again. “Fuck. You’re not going to call my parents are you?”
I stared at him for a second, debating how to respond.
“Do you want me to?”
“No,” he breathed. “Fuck no. Please, dude…don’t call them.”
I nodded slowly. “Okay. Then I won’t. Can we keep moving?”
River blinked several times, then gave a nod with a wince. “Okay. Yeah. Just don’t call them.”
“What happens if I do?” I asked. “Are you…River, are you safe at home?”
He didn’t reply. I was mid-thought, trying to decide whether or not to ask again when he finally responded, his words slow.
“I get headaches,” he said, his voice sounding a bit faraway. “Migraines.”
“That’s not good,” I replied.
River shrugged. “I stopped taking the medicine. Made me feel weird. They’ll get mad if they find out.”
“But are you safe?” I asked.
River let out a soft scoff. “What would you even do if I said no?”
He…sort of had a point. I had a duty to ask, but…
“No one cares anyway,” River muttered. “Fuck, you’ll be mad too when–” He cut himself off, blinking again, then pressing his fingers to his temples.
I chewed my lip, recalling how River was adopted by some people involved in the cult.
He’d been at the gala, and helped Skye for some reason.
Although, if I really thought about it, it wasn’t confusing at all.
It seemed River didn’t want to be involved in this cult, so it made sense he’d have helped Skye.
Especially if he was developing feelings for her.
The irrationally jealous side of brain roared to life, and I took several deep breaths as I reminded myself why we were doing this.
Because I was a member of the staff and River was a student.
That was it. I was doing my job.
But why the fuck had Aiden punched him?
I felt a weird sense of…brotherhood with Aiden. I wanted to take his side without knowing all the facts. I wanted to take his side even with knowing he’d probably started the fight for a stupid reason.
Except it probably wasn’t a stupid reason.
It was probably for a very good reason.
A reason that was about five foot four with long, dark hair pulled back into a high ponytail.
I held open the Health clinic door while River slowly staggered through. He stared at the floor while I spoke with a receptionist, and then we sat in the lobby.
I didn’t need to wait in the lobby. River was like any other student. I could’ve left.
But he wasn’t like any other student.
There was something weird going on with River, and with my pseudo-sensing affinity growing stronger from my recent hookups with Skye, something was becoming clearer.
River had a lot more affinities than what were listed in his file.
One of them was something I’d never felt before, and one of them felt…familiar, but in a way that confused me. I wished, not for the first time, that I hadn’t ignored my sensing affinity. It needed to be nurtured so I could use it right.
“Look who it is!”
I jumped up while River continued staring into his palms.
Dani Earl, my sister and Mia’s current female fixation, appeared at the head of the hall, smiling broadly, which was weird. She wasn’t my biggest fan –no one involved with my sister ever was– and I hadn’t seen her since she almost forcefully healed my broken leg before Alaska.
The irony that I’d been so against forced healing only to do that very thing to Levi hadn’t escaped me.
But why was she smiling at me?
“Hey, Riv,” Dani said cheerfully.
River’s head jerked up to look at her, his blue eyes widening once they focused on her.
“What happened?” Dani asked, glancing down at the paperwork I’d filled out.
“Nothing,” River muttered.
I noticed he’d stood and was now on my other side, as far from Dani as possible.
I tried to come up with a million reasons for why he didn’t want to be here.
I settled on the idea that if he’d grown up in a commune, he probably wasn’t very trusting of medical professionals.
Fuck, maybe I should’ve considered that before forcing him here.
“I’ll handle him,” Dani said. “Anything else?”
My stomach flipped as she looked at me. Zephyr’s words came back to me, about how Dani had either healed me wrong or wasn’t very good at healing. I hesitated as I glanced back at River, staring blankly into the floor.
“Come on, you can trust me.” Dani said.
My gut felt heavy, and it took me a moment to figure out why.
The realization that I trusted my Key’s brother more than Dani was heavy. Zephyr had intentionally broken my bone in a twisted experiment. Dani was a Health professional.
I still didn’t trust Dani. Neither did River.
“I don’t…wanna go back there.” River said shakily.
“Come on, Riv, don’t be like that.” Dani said. “I need to check you over.”
River shook his head. “No. I’m not…stop.”
Dani was still moving toward him, and River jerked back, stepping behind me. “Don’t you trust me?” she asked cheerily.
“No,” he snapped. “Don’t let her touch me.”
I turned my back on a bewildered Dani, trying to catch River’s gaze.
“Is it only her?” I asked, ignoring Dani’s scoff of irritation. “There’s other aides.”
“No,” River shook his head, taking a few shaky steps away. “No Healers.”
“River,” I said gently, trying to take control of the situation. “You need to get your head checked by someone. You’re acting a little irrationally.”
River snorted. “You would say that.”
My heart clenched. He stormed away, through the double doors outside and I followed, ready to catch him as he kept listing to one side. Dani called out something from behind us, but I ignored her.
That familiar affinity was sparking, like he was getting ready to use it, but when nothing happened, I grabbed River’s arm. I pushed him around a corner to a more secluded part of campus, out of view of the quad.
His arms grew cold, and a nearby fountain stopped bubbling as another affinity gathered water to attack me. I ignored that, though, focusing on where inside his body hurt.
The warmth of my healing affinity flowed through my fingertips even easier than before, and I almost cringed as I realized that was also probably because I’d hooked up with Skye.
River went rigid, one of his hands curling into a fist in preparation to no doubt punch the shit out of me, but he froze, staring at how his burnt fingertips began to heal in front of our eyes.
I swallowed thickly, moving my hand up to his cheek. My stomach dropped as his blue eyes met mine, looking wild and…terrified. Terrified because something had scared him in the Health clinic, sure, but now he was afraid of my affinity? No…I wasn’t sure what to think of this.
The cut on River’s cheek knit itself back together, and the bruising slowly began to fade.
My healing affinity continued to spread, moving into River’s skull. There was a headache there, like he’d said, but…it was weird. There wasn’t anything causing it. It sort of reminded me of what I’d felt on Levi–
“Thanks, doc,” River whispered, breaking the spell and pulling back.
“Don’t mention it,” I muttered.
River looked down at his knuckles, now completely healed. He ran his fingers over his thumbs, his brow furrowing slightly.
“What’s wrong with Dani?” I asked.
River’s blue eyes darted back to mine, and he rubbed his hands together before looking away. “Grew up with her. Don’t trust her.”
I nodded. “Okay. And why did Aiden jump you?” I needed to hear from River what happened before I spoke to Aiden.
My opinion was already skewed since Aiden was my Link-mate, but I still wanted River’s side.
Besides, too many people had seen the fight.
I’d probably have to fill out some paperwork over this bullshit.
River squeezed his eyes shut. “I can’t tell you, dude. You’ll just punch me, too.”
He tried to walk away, but I grabbed his arm again, wincing at how quickly they heated.
“What the hell does that mean?” I snapped.
River clenched his jaw, then jerked his arm out of my grip. I was so shocked, I only stared while he walked away quickly, almost jogging.
My phone buzzed, and I glanced down at my screen, rolling my eyes. I’d missed my meeting.
Whatever. I didn’t ever want to see Carissa again anyway. It was for the best that we kept our interactions to a minimum, especially given Skye’s…jealous tendencies.
I shook my head, deciding to go to my office and get started on the mountain of paperwork that awaited me. As I turned, I fixed my hair in the reflection of the Health clinic window, freezing when I realized I could see through the tint.
Dani was standing inside, her fingers lightning quick across her phone screen.
My stomach dropped again.
I really, really hoped River wasn’t about to get in trouble. And I didn’t like that I was worried.
I pulled out my phone and made a note to check on River’s Link-testing.