Chapter 23 #2
I step into the dimly lit space and make my way over to his desk. Gavin doesn’t stand, doesn’t greet me, and that’s all I need to know about the nature of this visit: it isn’t a friendly one. Still, I force an easy-going grin to my face.
“Everything okay?”
Gavin’s brow furrows slightly before he clears his throat, motioning for me to sit across from him in the vacant chair. I sit slowly, assessing his desk, the disarray of the room, and the open bottle of scotch on his sideboard.
“I’ve heard some things, Madden. Some unpleasant things,” he starts, sitting back in his chair and folding his hands in his lap.
My brow quirks up and I assess his face with cool detachment. “You’ll have to give me more than that, Gavin. I don’t know what you’re referring to exactly.”
“My daughter,” Gavin practically sneers. “I’ve heard you’ve been spending a significant amount of time with her at the Gate. I knew training was taking place, but this piece of information seems to entail that more is going on.”
“I don’t know where you’re getting your information, but we are training her at the Gate, just like you asked. Aero and Heath are there as well, so I hope your little spy reported that too,” I answer, keeping my voice level and refusing to look away from his accusing gaze.
“She’s going to be your stepsister, Madden. I don’t think I need to tell you how the optics of such a relationship would look to the council or the town,” Gavin drawls, his eyes raking over me, as if sizing me up and finding me lacking.
I can feel my body tensing, wanting to deny the relationship being forced onto us both when we’re meant for so much more. If only Gavin knew, his head would spin with the information, and there is no doubt in my mind he would find a way to control the outcome, knowing the power dynamic would shift.
“I’ve been training Skully. There is nothing else to it than that,” I hear myself saying. Protecting Skully and myself right now is top priority.
Gavin sits with the information for a beat or two, before glancing off to the map on his wall.
I see various pins stuck in places around town.
“If there is anything else going on at the Gate that goes beyond your position as reapers, I will find out eventually. There are far more eyes in this town than you or your friends could prepare for.”
The threat is clear; the message delivered. He knows or at least suspects that we’re plotting something while at the cemetery. He knows that his daughter is involved as well. The real question is how.
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about, sir.” The lie rolls smoothly off my tongue. Gavin grunts, moving his body closer to his desk and leaning across it to stare me down.
“The Nexa is not here. It’s a myth, a piece of gossip to stir up drama and cause issues between the paranormals.”
My stomach sinks. He knows we’ve talked about the Nexa.
But how? He would have had to be at the cemetery or someone would have to have been close enough to read our lips.
Unless… unless someone there told him. My mind flashes to Skully and a burst of red-hot betrayal slices across my chest. My shadows rise in defense but it’s the only thing that makes sense.
Taking my silence as obedience, Gavin waves his hand to dismiss me. “This is my town, Madden. Until your ascension, you still answer to me.”
Anger burns in my veins and I have to school my features to stay neutral, unbothered, a stoic mask of acceptance. The perfect tool for Gavin to use and wield.
“Understood,” I mutter before turning and exiting the study.
My body is vibrating by the time I exit the house, gulping in fresh air and trying to make sense of what the fuck just happened.
It makes no sense how Gavin would have any information about what happens at the Gate.
Between Aero, Heath and myself, we’ve kept the area charmed while we’re there.
No one can hear our conversations. We’re protected by an invisible force, and if anyone other than Death or the hounds cross that boundary, we’re notified immediately.
Which leads me to only one logical conclusion: someone betrayed me.
Betrayed us. And despite the way my shadows and my heart protest the truth, I know deep down she’s responsible.
And I’m going to put an end to it. If payback was her mission the entire time, Skully is about to feel my wrath in a way she never has before, our bond be damned.
I force a shimmer and land myself right back at the entrance to the sports complex where the pool is. My car is still parked in the parking lot, the lone vehicle still remaining at this time on a Monday. Grabbing the keys from my jacket, I hit the unlock button right as I hear my name being called.
“Madden!”
I turn, instantly recognizing the voice, and inwardly recoil, not in the mood to face anyone right now. Still, I make myself wait until she gets closer.
“Where did you go after practice? You just disappeared,” Lily huffs out, her cobalt blue eyes flashing.
I run my hands through my hair, trying my best to maintain a friendly face when all I really want to do is get home and hit the gym. I need to hit something, to let my shadows free, to take away the pain and anger simmering beneath my surface.
“I had some things with Gavin to take care of. It was an emergency, so I left right away.”
She glances away and I notice the slight flare of guilt in her features. No. There’s no way that Lily would go to Gavin. She hates him and the council as much as we do. She’s our best friend and yet she won’t look at me.
“Lily, did you know that Gavin was going to ask to talk to me today?”
Her gaze swings back to mine, and her cheeks flush a deep red. Her mouth drops open in shock. “Are you seriously asking me that?”
I shrug, masking my face. “He knew some pretty interesting facts. Things only one of us would know.”
Her lips mash together, and my gut coils. “Be serious, Madden. Everyone on campus, hell everyone in River Falls, has seen you with her.”
I reel back at the venom in her usually soft and meek voice when she says her, knowing she’s referring to Skully. There is no other woman I spend time with, never since the day my little curse walked into my life.
“I never said what Gavin asked to talk to me about, Lily.”
The blush on her cheeks spreads to her neck and slides down toward the collar on the dress she’s wearing. Suspicion creeps into my chest and suddenly Killian’s warnings are blaring in my head. “What did Skully do to make you dislike her? Back then you said she scared you.”
Lily falters, her face dropping, and she glances around almost panicked.
“She did. She does. The minute she got to River Falls High, you guys were all over her. Wanting her attention and I watched as she sunk her claws into all four of you. It was disgusting. I tried to warn you. Then she became cold, calculated and even though she was your girlfriend, we were always finding her with Killian. She was hurting you, Madden. She was using you guys and driving a wedge between all of you.”
The past flickers in the back of my mind searching, trying to find where things started and how they went wrong. I can still never pinpoint the moment Skully changed. I need to find that moment to discover what happened, before everything blew up.
“Listen, Lily, you’re my friend, but what’s between me and Skully is ours to figure out.”
Her head shakes, denying my words, and I almost feel bad, realizing this is hurting her.
My brows furrow, and all those conversations with Heath, with Aero, and Killian come back to me.
“You’ll see, Madden. She is going to hurt you again.
And I’ll still be here like always. We’re meant to be together; you’ll see it someday. ”
There’s a serene smile on her lips as she says it.
I think I’m going to be sick. I can feel the blood drain from my face.
Once again I was about to lash out at Skully and it would have been a mistake.
What if everything wasn’t how I believed it to be then?
What if I ruined the one thing that was supposed to be the most precious thing between reapers?
Skully still doesn’t know; she doesn’t remember who I am to her.
“Lily, I’m your friend. I care about you as friends—-”
“No!” she screams, stepping closer to me, her finger pointed right at my chest. “You just need time. You’ll see. Besides, we both know she’ll never get over it once she remembers.”
My brow rises, my mouth parts to speak, to ask her what she’s talking about, but she pops out.
Her little gray sparks fizzling out in her wake.
I’m left there completely undone, my body in knots, my powers screaming, and my heart beating erratically.
What the fuck did I do? I’m already in deep over the Gavin situation, and now things with Lily have thrown me back into the deep end.
I feel like I’m drowning, and every time I try to swim up to gasp for air, the pained look on Skully’s face pushes me right back down. Back down where I deserve to be.
Taking deep breaths, I grab my phone from my pocket and find her contact information. My fingers swipe over her name, and the phone rings loudly in the silence.
“Madden?” she asks hesitantly because let’s be real, I’ve never called her before.
“Yeah, it’s me, Skully.” I chuckle, despite the way my chest feels like it’s cracked open and bleeding out all over the gravel.
“Is everything okay?”
Fuck. She’s worried about me and for the past hour all I’ve thought about it how she’s probably betrayed me. “Yeah, I’m good. Everything’s good. I was just checking, you don’t work tomorrow evening, right?”
I ask even though I know she doesn’t. I’ve seen her schedule and have it pretty much memorized. That alone should have tipped me off that things were already escalating on my end. My feelings for her aren’t disappearing; if anything, they are growing darker, more obsessed.
“No. Why?” she asks, and I hear what sounds like a page turning on her end of the line.
My eyes close, imagining her propped on her pillows on top of her bed, with her notebook and textbooks spread out around her. I hear the distinct click of a pen and smile to myself knowing I’m right.
“I want to take you to dinner.”
She goes silent, and my heart thuds in my chest waiting for her to answer. “Just me and you?”
“Yeah, Skully. Just me and my girl. A date, what do you say?” A smirk hits my lips just picturing her biting her lip nervously.
She won’t remember the first time I asked her out.
She doesn’t remember the movie we saw together or how bad it was that we left half way through and got ice cream instead while walking along the beach.
“Yeah, I can do that.” Her voice is almost breathy, and it sends heat down my spine.
“I’ll pick you up at six,” I tell her, not giving her any wiggle room. She already said yes. Tomorrow night, Skully is mine, and it’s time I faced her. I have to tell her about the bond and maybe, just maybe, someday she’ll forgive me for everything else once she remembers.