Chapter 4 #2
There’s no way of excusing myself from his seething breakdown without raising suspicions, so it’s almost midnight by the time I get back to my room. The moment the door is locked behind me, I grab my phone to finally type out the text I’m most desperate to send.
The file Draven handed me is already burned to ashes, no chance I’d risk anyone catching so much as a glimpse of the information there, but I took a second to memorize everything he gave me, including her schedule and address.
It takes me half a second to get a secure browser up to figure out an idea of where my Bond will be and, thankfully, the time zones work in my favor.
With the danger my Bond is in, I can’t leave anything to chance.
She’s probably barely gotten back to her dorm room… or Draven’s house if he’s lying about where he’s got her holed up.
Fuck, he might even have her locked up. The West Coast Council are renowned for using underground cells for their prisoners, reinforced with tech the Resistance haven’t been able to crack yet and capable of keeping Top Tier Gifted incarcerated indefinitely.
My father snarls and spits about them at every chance he can, especially given the tech is far beyond anything he has his hands on, and there’s nothing the man hates more than being outdone.
These days, it’s hard not to point out to him that there’s a reason his chosen side doesn’t have that tech; they’re never really inclined to lock people up humanely, so there’s never been a need for them to develop cells like that.
Pressing send on the text, I hope it’ll distract me from the bleak and enraging path my mind is taking again.
I think we should meet here first. The name is Atlas Bassinger, and I live on the other side of the country. I’m finishing out the semester and then coming to you, my college wouldn’t let me transfer mid-unit, otherwise I’d be there now. Hope you can understand that.
The problem is, the more I reread what I’ve written, the stupider it sounds until I almost unsend it and start again.
When I see she’s read the message but doesn’t message me back straight away, I tell myself that the violent lurch in my gut is at the thought of spooking her, and not that she’s about to reject me for real this time.
Not that I’d blame her, of course; she was tortured for years by the side that raised me and here I am fumbling around her like a moron.
My phone finally buzzes in my hand and I take a deep breath before I open it.
Have you spoken to the other guys? I’m sure they have plenty to say about why you don’t need to drop everything to come to me.
Fuck the rest of the Bond Group.
Honest to God, I’d do anything to get her away from them all right now so Silas Davies doesn’t find her. My fingers fly across the keyboard without thinking too much about my answer, the truth spilling out in every word to her with ease.
I don’t give a fuck about their opinions on my Bond.
I spoke to them when my bloodwork came back and they told me you ran.
I’m not a dumbass like the rest of them, you ran because you had to.
I know it. I’ll be there as soon as I can, and if that isn’t fast enough for you, I’ll come now and start the semester over again.
I might not be able to tell her everything right now, but I will not lie to my Bond. That’s the line I’m drawing, and I hope it’s enough to gain me her forgiveness when I can finally tell her… everything, I guess.
This time, she answers me back in an instant.
You can’t do that! I made you wait for long enough and, honestly, I’m still not too keen on sticking around.
Warmth spreads through my chest, a giddy sort of smile tugging insistently at my lips.
This girl is perfect. I already knew she’s the most incredible person I’ve ever hoped to know after seeing those fucking tapes, but even now she’s soothing the violent hum in my bond I’d almost forgotten about without even trying.
I’ll burn the world down around us both before I give a fuck about anything but her. I shift the focus away from the rest of the Bond Group, not wanting the Dravens to ruin this moment for me.
Introduce yourself, Bond. I don’t want to talk about anything but you and me. That’s what’s going to get me through the next two months.
I know a lot about her already, thanks to my mom and the Dravens, but all the files in the world couldn’t possibly hold enough in them to really know my Bond.
I want to know how she sees herself, what she thinks of the world, what she makes of me.
I want to know her so well I can guess her reactions to things, how to surprise her, what makes her squirm in pleasure.
I want to know every inch of her from the inside out, and I want it all to be mine.
How the fuck will I ever be able to share her with the rest of the Bond Group?
There’s nothing really to say about me. My name is Oleander Fallows, I’m nineteen, and I don’t want to be here. I was found by a TacTeam and the Council had them bring me back here. They’ve put GPS trackers in me now, so there’s no way for me to leave here. Yet.
I’m hitting the call button before I’ve even processed her words.
It rings twice before she picks up and through my growing rage, I don’t even consider that I’m about to speak to my Bond for the first time.
I don’t even give her the chance to utter a word, politeness thrown all the way out, but I do manage to rein in my fury so my voice is level and calm.
“Hey, what do you mean a GPS tracker?”
She clears her throat, a delicate sound that shouldn’t get me grinning down the line like a psycho, yet here I am looking like the Joker on steroids, then I hear my Bond’s voice for the first time.
“The Council held me down and implanted a GPS tracker under my skin while I struggled. Well, I would have struggled if the Gifted in the room hadn’t paralyzed me.
It’s got some safeguard on it so I can’t just dig it out myself.
Apparently, one of my other Bonds is a very important man and I’ve pissed him off enough to have my autonomy taken from me. ”
My brain switches off entirely, my vision whiting out while my heartbeat becomes a roar in my ears. Years of training my restraint means that I don’t lose control of my Gift and crush my phone, but my hand is shaking with the efforts of holding it back.
I can’t contain the tremble of pure rage in my voice, or the spill of words that come out with way more intensity than I was hoping to throw at her this early on. “I’ll come now, fuck my college classes.”
There’s every chance I’ve blown it and she’s about to hang up and make a run for it, but after a second she speaks, her voice a little hoarse. “It’s my own doing. I ran. They won’t ever let me forget that either. Fuck, I’d probably hate me too if I were them.”
Words are impossible, let alone managing to say something about the rest of the Bond Group that isn’t malicious, so I grunt in frustration as I start packing up my desk to distract myself, throwing our passports into my carry-on bag first. “You had a reason though, right? You didn’t just leave for the fun of it. ”
She scoffs at me, but the indignation in her voice is full of sass that has my packing turning frantic. “How exactly can you be so sure of that? I could be a total asshole here.”
I copy her scoff, enjoying the hell out of my Bond already and we’re still a country-length apart. “Don’t try to distract me, Bond. There’s no way you were leaving me behind, not on purpose.”
The sound of springs echoes softly down the line, and a thump as she must throw herself back on her bed. “That’s pretty arrogant of you to assume, I might just be a total fucking bitch. Fuck, it doesn’t matter anyway. I can’t talk about any of it, no matter how nice you are.”
The fun sizzles out as her tone shifts to miserable again, and I start planning how exactly I’m going to murder the Dravens for this shit. “Okay, fuck this, I’m booking a flight right now.”
"You can’t, they'll only hold that against me as well. Just… maybe we can just call and text sometimes? It would be nice to talk to someone who doesn't… hate me, I guess."
I chuckle down the line at her, focusing entirely on the part where she wants to talk to me and ignoring the bit where the rest of those assholes are obviously treating her terribly because otherwise, I’m flying over there and killing them all.
"Yeah, I'd like to get to know my Bond. This way we can do it without all of the sex getting in the way, though I have to admit, I'm a lot happier knowing I'm not the only one missing out.
I'd rather they all stay pissed at you so I can taste you first."
She makes a little sound, a gasp she mostly smothers, and I settle back in my bed, an easy smile stretching over my lips.
I want to hear that sound again, and a million more, I want to spend the rest of my life teasing them out of her until she’s as gone on me as I am on her.
I can be patient. I can wait this out, because my Bond is worth it all.