CHAPTER FOURTEEN #2
I lifted my shoulders. “I only said that he and Skye look cute together. I thought they might be an item, since she stood possessively close to him. She’s usually careful not to touch him, and he didn’t step away from her.”
“Probably because he was too busy cutting off your avenue of escape. Anyway, I wasn’t talking about tonight—something’s happened before then. He’s been consistently mad at you recently.” She sipped at her drink. “He glares at you pretty much constantly.”
I waved that away. “He glares at everyone.”
“He has a default glare, true. But this is more. Personal.” She edged her chair closer to the table and leaned forward. “Come on, what gives?”
“I’ve no idea,” I replied with a clueless, half-hearted shrug. “You’d have to ask him.”
She squinted, studying me closely. A slow smile crept onto her face. “I’ve noticed something.”
I forced myself not to tense, keeping my expression nonchalant.
“You make a point of not looking at him unless you absolutely have to.”
“I do?” I asked, airy.
“Yes. And I’ve noticed something else.”
“You’re quite the noticer.”
Her lips flattened. “That’s not a word.”
“Pretty sure it is.”
She flicked a hand. “Whatever. Stop trying to divert my attention—it won’t work.”
“I do it, like, all the time. Mostly just for the fun factor. It always works.”
“It won’t this time.” She propped her elbows on the table. “Back to what I was saying, I’ve noticed something else: you treat him differently now. Before, you bantered with him. Now, you keep your interactions with him to a minimum.”
I drank a gulp of my mead. “He’ll very soon be my superior, since I fully intend to join the Order. So I figure I should stop ogling and teasing him. It’s not professional.” I shrugged. “That’s it.”
She hummed. “You’re lying. Interesting.”
“I’m not lying. And why would it be interesting if I was?”
She let out a dismissive sound. “You wouldn’t understand, you’re not like me.”
“Nuts, nosy, and weird?”
“How am I weird?”
“Do you really have to ask that, Miss I Like Digging Shallow Graves?”
“It relaxes me. Don’t judge. We all need our minds to go quiet for a while.
” She pointed hard at me. “Now stop trying to distract me and just spill the truth. There has to be a reason you’re both acting so strange toward each other, acting so …
” She trailed off, her gaze sharpening in a way that made my nape prickle.
She leaned closer. “Oh my God, you’ve fucked him,” she accused, her hushed tone edged with excitement.
My belly sank. “What? Come on, that’s—”
“You’ve fucked him,” she repeated, sure. “When did this happen?”
I spluttered. “It didn’t.”
“I can always sniff out a lie. I’ve told you, there’s no fooling the Master of Deceit,” she said, proudly placing a hand on her chest. “Now cough up the goods. When did it happen? Was it when you shared a room at the bunker?”
I sighed, feeling my shoulders slump. I could keep denying it, but there was little point. She wasn’t going to let it go, nor would she second guess herself at this juncture.
“Yes,” I eventually answered. “The second time.”
Her eyes bulged. “It’s happened more than once?” Eagerness dancing over her face, she planted a hand on the table. “When did you two first do the dirty? Tell me.”
“When we were camping and slept in the same tent.”
She gawked. “This is extra. I can’t believe—wait, that happened weeks ago. How could you not have shared it with me, your best friend in the whole entire world?”
I tossed her an impatient look. “I’ve known you for, like, a month.” We’d grown up in the same settlement but never spoken during that time.
“Thirty-seven days, to be exact. But some people become besties in an instant. That happened with us.”
“Then why did you tell Nakoa she was your best friend?” I challenged, feeling my lips quirk.
“That was last week. A lot can change in that space of time.”
“But you just said that you and I instantly became—”
“Stop picking at words.” She tugged on the sleeve of my tunic. “Why didn’t you tell me about you and Talon?”
“I’m telling you now.”
“Under duress.”
I rubbed at the corner of my brow. “I don’t want anyone to know—too many people would twist it; insinuate I thought it would help get me a place in the Order.” I grabbed my tankard again. “He doesn’t want anyone to know either. Acts like it hasn’t happened. Not flattering.”
“Maybe so, but that he broke his no-sex-with-candidates rule for you? Flattering.”
“Doesn’t change that he seems to begrudge having broken it.”
“Which didn’t stop him from doing it twice,” she pointed out, raising her index finger.
“I can see you’re hopeful this means something. It doesn’t. It won’t matter whether I’m a candidate or an officiate, he’ll still behave like it didn’t happen. He admitted as much when I accused him of that and he didn’t deny it.”
Frowning, she sat back in her seat. “That doesn’t make any sense. Why would he want to hide it?”
“I don’t know if it’s a matter of hiding it or just not wanting to acknowledge it,” I replied before taking another sip of my drink. “I told him not to touch me again unless he was willing to stop being so weird about it. I refuse to be someone’s dirty secret.”
Realization dawned over her face. “Ah. He doesn’t like that you’ve withdrawn your interest despite not wanting to do something about your little attraction. I suppose it isn’t surprising that he wouldn’t take kindly to you trying to tune it out. Who would?”
So done talking about him, I said, “On another note, Bevan warned me that I need to watch my back.”
Her brows snapped together, anger stirring in her gaze. “He threatened you?”
“No, he gave me a heads-up that he thinks Atticus might do something dumb.”
“Which would be highly characteristic of the little shit,” she pointed out. “If he tries anything, I will personally fuck him up.”
“If he tries anything, he’ll be dead.” I’d take him out before anyone else had the chance—it’d be a matter of self-defense, so I wouldn’t be punished for it.
She straightened in her seat, her expression brightening. “Now let’s get back to the topic of Talon.”
I grimaced. “Um, let’s not.”
“But I have questions about his bedroom habits. Lots and lots of questions.”
“Sounds like your issue.”
Her brow puckered. “Oh come on, my curiosity needs satisfying.”
“Again, sounds like your issue.”
“Just be a dear and spill all. Enquiring minds want—no, need—to know.”
“Once more, this seems to be a you issue.”
Huffing, she crossed her arms. “I just want to note that you are the worst best friend ever.”
“How do you know? We’re not best friends.”
“We so are,” she insisted.
“Nakoa’s yours. You said so yourself.”
Her lips thinned. “Are you just going to keep throwing that in my face to make me feel bad?”
“Does it make you feel bad?”
“Not a whole lot, no. I’m torn between you and Nakoa. It hurts. Hurts. But I’d feel so much better if you just told me—”
“No.”
Her arms flopped to her lap. “Like I said, worst bestie ever.”