Chapter 17
ANNIE
I stared at my phone, the pixelated words burning back at me for the hundredth time since I’d fled the penthouse.
You really shouldn’t have run.
That was it. No follow-up texts. The silence was worse than if he had bombarded me with messages and threats. I had no idea what he was thinking. Or planning.
I shifted in my chair, biting the inside of my cheek as the movement pulled at the sore muscles in my shoulders.
At least next time I knew not to struggle so hard if my hands were bound above my head.
Wait—no. That shouldn’t be the take away from last night.
I shouldn’t have let him tie me up in the first place.
I tore my attention away from the phone and scowled back at my computer. The Aegis’ email sat in my inbox, a bureaucratic death sentence wrapped in sanitized corporate speak.
Outstanding engagement metrics. Unprecedented cross-faction synergy.
Because Cipher and I had put on such a convincing show of dominance and submission at the Opener, the League wanted to parade us around even more.
And more high-profile League events meant more exposure to the League elite, which meant more chances for my fucked up Super radar to pinpoint the rogue Trueborn.
Our next mandated public appearance was tonight.
My stomach executed a flip. What was Cipher going to do when he saw me? I had explicitly disobeyed a direct order and bolted into the night wearing his clothes, which were currently stuffed in the bottom of my closet like contraband.
I reached up and found the bruise from Cipher’s mouth resting just above my collarbone and pressed down.
A sharp, sweet ache bloomed outward, sending a rush of heat through my body.
I was covered in his marks. I hated myself for it, but I had spent the entire day chasing the pain.
I kept pressing on the bruises under my clothes just to remind myself last night had been real.
I wasn’t afraid of whatever punishment he was currently engineering for my disobedience. I was terrified of how desperately my body craved his retaliation.
A sharp ping startled me and I snatched my hand away from my neck, lunging for my keyboard. An internal communication notification flashed green.
Bishop. My office. Now. - Havoc
I grabbed my tablet and headed off. Havoc’s afternoon schedule was a logistical nightmare of street clashes, fan meet-ups and Alliance debriefs. He probably wanted to go over the timeline.
The second I crossed the threshold into his office, Havoc pinned me with a look from behind his desk. He looked too serious for a scheduling conflict.
“I can move the mayor’s liaison to Thursday,” I said, sinking into the chair across from him, hoping to derail whatever it was he wanted to talk about. “And if you want to hit things before the street clash, the training room is clear at four.”
“I don’t care about my schedule, Annie. I care about yours.” Havoc folded his hands. “I’m putting you on administrative leave.”
“What?” His words simply didn’t make sense.
“Effective immediately. You’re on leave.”
“No.” Panic spiked hot and fast in my chest. Work was my anchor. The rules, the paperwork, the schedules—they kept the chaos out. They kept me from obsessing over silver eyes and bruised skin. Mostly.
“I’m not taking a leave. Your schedule—”
“My schedule will survive,” Havoc interrupted. “You spent the night in your old room just so you could get a jumpstart on your work today, kid. That ends now.”
I swallowed hard. He didn’t know the real reason I had crawled into my old bed at the Tower at one in the morning. He didn’t know I had fled Cipher wearing his clothes. Sleeping in my old room to work early was just the perfect, pathetic alibi.
“That’s not necessary,” I insisted, my voice pitching up. “I’m fine. I can handle the workload.”
“You look fucking exhausted, Annie.” Havoc leaned forward and the chaotic energy he usually kept tightly leashed pressed against my skin. “This didn’t just start. You’ve been running yourself into the ground for months. Now I finally have enough reason to force the issue.”
“You can’t just bench me.”
“I can and I am. The Aegis and the Syndicate drafted you into this godforsaken joint contract to find the rogue. That’s your priority now. You need the time and the energy to do that.”
“No. Havoc, please. I—”
“You’re burning the candle at both ends,” he fired back, his tone leaving zero room for negotiation. “I refuse to sit here and watch what happens when you finally burn out. You won’t survive it, and I won’t allow it.”
I opened my mouth, but the desperate urge to argue died under the weight of his stare. He was right about the exhaustion, even if he was wrong about the cause.
“Go home, Bishop,” Havoc ordered, softer this time but no less absolute. “I’ll pull whatever Keepers I require from the bullpen. Focus on the rogue. Keep yourself safe.”
“I’m not burning out,” I tried again, even knowing it was useless. “Havoc, please. The routine is what keeps me sane. If I’m just sitting around waiting for the next League event, I’ll lose my mind.”
Havoc didn’t soften. “When you’re at League events, you’re walking into a room full of predators, on the arm of one of the worst of them, trying to sniff out a rogue Trueborn. You need to be firing on all cylinders to deal with Cipher and you can’t do that if you’re obsessing over my schedule.”
“I can handle Cipher just fine,” I lied. I couldn’t even handle my own body around him.
“I know you think you can.” Havoc sighed. “But Cipher isn’t someone to be trusted. Right now, he’s on his best behavior because the Syndicate and the Aegis are watching.”
Best behavior. Tell that to the bruises on my throat that throbbed with each beat of my heart.
“He’s playing the obsessed Villain for the cameras,” Havoc continued, his blue eyes darkening with concern. “But I’m worried about what that bastard will do when the cameras aren’t on you.”
I locked down every muscle in my face and forced it into a blank mask. It took everything I had not to let my gaze dart away.
I didn’t want to think about what would happen if Havoc knew about the deal Cipher and I had struck on our own, what he’d do if he knew that I’d given myself willingly to him. Havoc would probably tear him apart at the molecular level thinking that he had manipulated me into a sexual relationship.
“He’s just playing a part.” I managed to keep my voice steady. “I’ll be fine.”
Havoc stared at me for a long moment. He didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t press it. “Go home, Annie. Get some rest. Prep for tonight. That’s an order.”
The command filled me with dread, twisting my stomach into a hard knot.
Home. I wanted to stay here at the Tower.
I wanted to hide in my old bedroom on the ninety-first floor and lock the only door I thought Cipher might not be able to get through.
While I wanted to know what Cipher would do to me for running, I was also afraid of how much I might like it.
But there was no way to tell Havoc I wanted to stay at the Tower without raising suspicion. If I admitted I didn’t want to go back to my own apartment, he would demand to know why. I wasn’t ready for that conversation. I would never be ready for that conversation.
On the drive home, my stomach twisted tighter at every stoplight. When I unlocked my front door, I braced myself, half-expecting Cipher to be standing there.
But the apartment was empty and that was worse.
I jumped at the sound of the ice maker dropping cubes and the climate control kicking on. I woke my phone screen. Nothing. Not a single threat. Not a single command.
I stared at his contact name, Tech Support.
I could draw him out. I could send something biting, something defiant to force his hand and get the confrontation over with.
The anxiety was rotting my nerves, but I couldn’t stomach giving him the satisfaction.
If I texted him, he’d know I was obsessing.
I dropped my bag on the floor and reached for the top button of my blouse. My fingers felt stiff, fumbling with the small plastic disc. I managed two buttons before the dull ache at the base of my skull demanded my attention. I’d twisted my hair too tight this morning when I’d put it up.
I abandoned the shirt and reached up to pry the first bobby pin free.
A shadow shifted in the corner of the room.
Before my brain really processed the movement, a hand clamped over my mouth, smothering my scream. An arm went around my waist and slammed me back into a wall of armor.
“Easy,” Cipher murmured.
The tension drained out of my muscles instantly and I relaxed. I actually fucking relaxed. The realization sparked a flare of annoyance within me. I shouldn’t be able to relax around the stalker that had just broken into my home.
Cipher removed his hand from my mouth, and his fingers replaced mine in my hair. He found another bobby pin, sliding it out.
“What are you doing?”
“Taking the pins from your hair,” he replied, dropping the pin onto my dresser with a small clink. His knuckles grazed my sensitive scalp, tracing the sore lines where the hair had been pulled back. “I noticed your schedule has been cleared for the foreseeable future. Why is that?”
Of course he’d already seen my schedule.
But I hesitated. He was being gentle and that made absolutely no sense.
I had bolted from his penthouse in the middle of the night, explicitly defying his orders to stay put.
I had spent the entire day dreading his retaliation, and now he was playing hairdresser.
“Havoc put me on administrative leave,” I finally admitted. “He wants me focused on finding the rogue.”
Cipher pulled the last pin free, letting my hair tumble over my shoulders. His hands slid down my sides and moved to my shirt, his fingers taking over the task of unbuttoning it.
I tried to pull away from him. “I can undress myself.”