Chapter 14
I made it halfway back to the clinic before Lee materialized beside me, scaring me half to death.
“You healed my leg in the cave, didn’t you?” he asked, and I nodded, trying to slow my heart rate. “Why?”
I sighed. “Because it was gettin’ infected.”
“So?”
I gave him a sharp look. “ So? You could’ve lost your leg.”
“Probably would’ve made it much easier for you to escape if I only had one leg.”
I didn’t answer, walking around a particularly deep, muddy puddle in the path.
“Did your dad really tell you Wolf was gonna kill you?”
“What?” I swung my gaze back to him so fast I almost tripped. Had I told him that?
He tilted his head slightly. “Do you remember talking to me in the cave?”
“Yes?”
“Guess you probably wouldn’t remember that part, though,” he mused. “You were pretty delirious. You thought I was Trey.”
I came to an abrupt halt, all the blood rushing out of my face in horror. I thought Lee was Trey? What the fuck had I done? What did I say?
“It’s alright. You were just very concerned for my safety.”
“What does that mean?” I demanded.
“You wanted me to hide so Wolf wouldn’t kill me, too.”
I stared at him, my mouth dry as sand. “What else did I do?”
“Nothin’ happened, Freckles.” I hated the pity on his face. “You were sad. You wanted me to hold you, so I held you.”
I swallowed hard and lurched forward again. I had no memory of that, and I hated not knowing for sure what had happened. I hated that I just had to trust him. He continued to walk beside me, but I avoided looking at him.
“Griz said he died three months ago.”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I bit out.
He paused, then said, “Alright.”
“Why are you following me?”
“Wolf feels better when somebody’s with you,” he explained, and I scoffed. “Well, learnin’ more about you hasn’t exactly eased his mind. Did you really jump into a pit to fight a giant without a weapon?”
“I had a weapon.”
“A tiny knife?”
I glared at him and found him grinning, eyes crinkled. “I killed Madame with that knife,” I shot back.
His eyebrows raised. “Alright, I take it back.” He walked beside me for a few seconds before he spoke again. “So, who’s Zip?”
For fuck’s sake. “Who told you about Zip?” I demanded.
“Oh, Sam mentioned him in passing, and Griz just about bit his head off.”
“I’m not talking about him either,” I muttered.
“What will you talk about?”
“Is stabbing you still an option?”
He laughed out loud. He had a nice laugh, rich and warm.
“I like you,” he said, still grinning.
I glared at him out of the corner of my eye, which only seemed to amuse him further.
I decided to ignore him for the rest of the walk to the clinic.
He didn’t seem to mind, walking silently along beside me.
As the clinic came into view, I was disappointed no one was waiting for me on the porch.
I’d been hoping to have a job to jump into immediately.
As I climbed up the steps, I sighed and started mentally running through what cleaning I should tackle first, but when I opened the door, I stopped so abruptly on the threshold that Lee barely managed to avoid walking into my back.
He said something, but I didn’t hear it.
My eyes were locked on the wall between the wood stove and the kitchen, where the word “MURDERER” was written in giant red letters on the wooden panels.
It was fresh—so fresh the red liquid was still slowly dripping down the wall.
I don’t know how long I stood there frozen before Lee physically moved my body so he could get inside.
He released my waist and strode past me, his eyes narrowed on the wall.
I finally remembered to breathe and immediately gagged.
The entire room reeked of blood and Madame’s sickly-sweet scent.
I turned on my heel and retreated outside, somehow not falling down the steps.
I stopped beside the apple tree in my front yard, leaning against it with my hand clasped over my mouth as I sucked in air through my nose.
Who would do this? Why did the whole clinic smell like Madame?
Was that word written in blood? My mind shied away from the emotion building inside my chest, floating out of my body again.
A hand touched my shoulder, and I jumped. Lee’s mouth was moving like he was talking to me, but it took a monumental effort to force myself to tune in.
“—okay? Freckles? Can you hear me?” Some of the tension in his face faded when I nodded. “There’s no one in there. I’m guessin’ that’s the same scent as the soap?”
I nodded again, inhaling deeply through my nose.
“Any idea who would do this?”
I shook my head.
“How about why?”
I looked away, staring out at the hold. Why? That was pretty fucking obvious, wasn’t it?
Lee took my free hand, squeezing gently.
When I didn’t jerk my hand away, he stepped closer and pulled me into a hug.
I still had one hand clasped over my mouth and my face pressed against his chest. I stood there numbly, not reciprocating but also not pulling away.
My thoughts tumbled over each other like falling rocks.
You were sad. You wanted me to hold you, so I held you.
“What’s goin’ on?”
Griz’s voice was sharper than usual. Lee answered, and I focused on the feeling of his voice rumbling in his chest instead of the actual words.
“What?” Griz sounded furious.
“Go look,” Lee said.
“Bones?” Griz asked instead.
I pulled away from Lee and looked at him. Griz studied me silently, but he didn’t speak, and that hollow feeling intensified.
“Stay here,” he finally said. “I’m gonna go look.”
I watched him walk up to the clinic and enter. A dull ringing sound filled my ears.
MURDERER.
Something touched my face, and I jerked away, startled.
“Wait, hold on. Hold still,” Lee commanded.
I froze, watching him. He stepped closer again and gently gripped my jaw with one hand while using the other to place a finger on my cheek. His brow furrowed in concentration as he moved his finger toward my chin and then back up toward my ear. Was he drawing something?
“What are you doing?” I finally asked.
“I thought so!” he said.
“What?”
“You have constellations in your freckles.” He met my eyes, grinning.
I stared at him.
“I just found Orion.”
I continued to stare at him. All the frantic thoughts in my head had come to a screeching halt.
“I swear I found Ursa Minor when we were in the cave.”
I blinked, and his grin widened.
“What, no one’s ever told you that you have a map of the stars on your face?”
“No,” I managed to say.
“Funny, that’s the first thing I thought when I saw you.” He traced the shape of Orion on my cheek again. “All the beauty and mystery of the night sky right there on your skin.”
I’d forgotten how to speak. He shifted to cup my face with both hands. His fingers felt cool on my heated cheeks.
“And those damn green eyes.”
Was it my imagination, or had his voice dropped lower?
“Like twin celestial jewels.”
“Are you flirting with me?” I stepped backward so his hands fell from my face.
He grinned. “Well, you figured it out much faster than your brother.”
My brain struggled to process. “You flirt with my brother?”
“I tried, but he prefers blondes,” he replied, his voice casual.
My brow creased in confusion. I couldn’t tell if he was joking or not.
“I mean, you figured out I was flirting with you before Wolf realized I was flirting with you.”
That empty hole in my chest thrummed with pain. “Don’t flirt with me.”
“Why not?” he gave me a devilish grin.
“I’m not…” What the fuck was this conversation right now? “…available.”
He tilted his head slightly, and one of the messy strands of black hair escaping from his bun fell across his face. “Available for what?”
“Anything.”
“Not available for anything ?” His eyebrows raised. “Sounds pretty lonely.”
My brow creased even further. What the fuck?
The clinic door slamming shut brought me back to reality. I took a small sidestep further away from Lee as Griz stormed toward us, his face dark.
“Who would do this?” he growled, looking between us.
“No idea,” Lee answered.
“I wasn’t asking you,” Griz grumbled at him before looking at me. “Bones, you have any idea?”
I shook my head, feeling a small stab of guilt.
Griz frowned. “We need to get Mac and Nemo.”
“I’ll go,” Lee offered.
The two of us stood and watched Lee stride away. I had no idea what to think about that whole conversation.
“Did you get sick?” Griz asked.
“No,” I realized out loud. I’d been too preoccupied with whatever the fuck that was with Lee.
Griz turned to face me, gripping my shoulders with his large hands. His face was so serious. “Are you okay?”
“I don’t know,” I said, figuring it was probably the most honest answer.
“That scent in there, that’s Madame’s soap, isn’t it?”
I nodded, my throat constricting.
“Someone’s tryin’ to get to you.” Anger flashed through his eyes, and I looked away. “Bones, you swear you don’t know who did this?”
“I don’t know who did this.”
It wasn’t really a lie. I didn’t know who did this, but I did have an idea.
Hawk hadn’t said a word to me since that awful night in the dungeon when Mist almost died, but I felt the heat of his hatred any time I made eye contact with him.
I wasn’t about to name him, though. I had no proof, and besides that, I’d already done enough to fuck up Hawk’s life. I didn’t want to do anything else.
“You know you’re not a murderer, right?” his voice gentled.
I met his gaze again, feeling so damn tired. “I am a murderer, Griz. I’ve killed people.”
“I’m not gonna cry over Madame or Juck.”
“Do you have any idea how many Reapers I watched die? People I could’ve saved?”
“I don’t think that’s the same thing,” he argued. “And even if it was, that’s on Juck, not on you. Do you think I’m a murderer? I killed people during the rebellion. People I’ve known my whole life.”
“That’s different,” I mumbled.
He sighed, then surprised me by pulling me into a hug. “It’s really not.”