29. Annalise
Chapter twenty-nine
Annalise
The ride back to Scion is filled with an awkward tension that I wouldn’t even wish on my worst enemy.
After Emily and Sasha told Matt that they would get their own rides home, Matt, Theo and I climbed into the pickup with a million words left unsaid between us…and if that weren’t uncomfortable enough, Theo chose to sit in the middle seat in the back, his large, lounging frame impossible to ignore.
No one speaks for the first ten minutes, which, based on the way Matt’s white-knuckled grip is practically strangling the steering wheel, I can’t say is a bad thing.
Staring out the window, I try not to think about my dad’s hands on me.
Try not to wonder why he hadn’t thought tonight through more carefully.
Sure—he brought the tincture with him, but he could’ve commanded me to leave with him without putting up a fight, and then Korr wouldn’t have made it in time.
“But he did,” Tyr assures me.
“Yeah…and so did you. Though that would have been a much easier rescue if I were fireproof.”
“I can fight without fire, you know?”
Then Theo sighs dramatically, interrupting what was sure to be a brilliant attempt at distraction. “This feels like the opening scene of a murder documentary. Are you about to pull onto a dark and gloomy side road?”
“Nobody’s murdering anybody,” I mutter.
Theo glances at Matt’s expression in the mirror. “Mm. I don’t know. He’s been looking at me like he’s deciding where to hide my body for the last twenty miles.”
Matt doesn’t even blink. “I already have a location picked out.”
I choke on a startled laugh before I can stop myself, earning the faintest smile and a wink from Matt.
“You know, her dad might’ve just wanted to spend a little alone time with her. Maybe everyone is just overreacting.”
The truck goes dead silent once more as Matt’s eyes snap to the rearview with such wrath, I can’t help but flinch on Theo’s behalf.
“Excuse me?”
“I’m just saying, from his perspective—”
“From his perspective?” Matt cuts in sharply. “Her father drugged her, forced her out of the gala against her will, and was intending to drive away with her in the bed of the truck to only the gods know where—”
Theo’s expression hardens slightly. “You don’t know what he was planning.”
“I know enough.”
The words crack through the truck hard enough that even I flinch.
Theo leans back against the seat, flexed arms crossing so tightly the seams of his suit might rip at any second.
“You’re acting like he was trying to kill her.”
Matt lets out a humorless laugh. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”
“Matt—” I start quietly.
“No.” His voice drops lower, which somehow makes it more menacing, “I trusted him to keep you safe, but he was too busy brown-nosing to notice your obvious unease all night.”
Theo’s jaw tightens. “Oh please, you don’t think I noticed? Of course I did, that’s why I was working so hard to make a good impression. We weren’t prepared for an impromptu meet-the-parents date.”
“You might actually be the stupidest mo—.”
“Enough. Both of you. Theo, even if this was a date—which I made very clear that it wasn’t—crawling up my dad’s ass all night would not have earned you any points. And Matt, he doesn’t know the history, so you can’t hold me being kidnapped from the gala against him.”
Both men immediately break eye contact, their desire to argue their sides suddenly replaced by a suffocating silence all the way back to campus.
Throwing the pickup in park and killing the engine, Matt finally breaks the silence, “Want to go for a walk?”
“Yeah, I could use some fresh air.”
Theo starts to move like he’s coming too, but Matt beats him to it. “Alone.”
The pointed look he gives Theo leaves absolutely zero room for interpretation.
Lifting both hands in submission, Theo mutters a quick “Message received. I’ll see you Monday, Annalise,” before pulling me in for a quick hug and taking off for the barracks.
Silence follows us across campus, broken only by the occasional rustle of leaves and the faint, familiar beat of Tyr's wings overhead, Matt's suit jacket still warm around my shoulders.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers, head hung low as we step onto the running path that leads to Korr’s house.
“I know you didn’t just try to take the blame for The Sheriff trying to kidnap me.”
“Annalise—”
“Did you help my dad poison me?”
Matt steps back, assaulted by my question.
“Of course not! How could—”
My hand shoots in the air, cutting him off. “And would you have just let me disappear without looking for me if he had succeeded?”
“You already know I would search until the end of time if he’d gotten away.”
“Exactly. So, stop trying to take the blame for something you had no control over. I’m willing to bet that the second you saw Theo without me by his side, you started playing twenty questions to figure out where I was.”
“That cocky asshole thought it was the time to be funny until…”
My eyebrows raise in expectation as his voice trails off. “Until…?”
“I shmamed hmminthewall,” he rushes out so unintelligibly I can’t quite piece together what he said.
“What was that?"
“I slammed him into the wall, okay? But I don’t regret it, and I won’t apologize. I could have lost you again!”
Neither of us speaks until Hunter’s house comes into view through the trees, warm light glowing through the windows.
Matt finally exhales beside me. “Are you okay?”
The question nearly undoes me.
“I will be.”
His gaze lingers on me for a moment before he nods, accepting the half-truth for what it is—a promise to myself.
My butt barely hits the couch before the sound of Hunter’s dress shoes walking down the hall hits my ears.
“You look like shit,” he tells Matt.
Matt snorts tiredly. “Thanks.”
“I could use a drink. Anyone else?”
Matt’s call for whatever Hunter's having comes at the same time I politely decline, too exhausted to do more than curl up under a blanket.
“Not so fast, Lee,” Matt tells me softly. “Go change into some pajamas so you’re comfortable while you walk us through what happened after I walked away.”
I don’t argue. By the time I’m walking back into the room in a sleep tank and oversized pajama pants, since I can’t find Mattey’s old shirt anywhere, both boys are sprawled out in the living room—Korr in the armchair, Matt still taking up one end of the couch with two glasses waiting on the table in front of him.
Curling into his side automatically, my head settles against his arm while his shoulder presses warm and solid against mine.
Slowly blinking awake, my body warm and heavy with sleep, I blissfully don’t remember where I am, only that I know I’m safe with Matt.
Matt…whose voice I hear but is no longer holding me.
Sliding my hand around the couch, I expect to feel him close by, but there’s nothing.
The spot where Matt had been is empty, his body replaced by a haphazard barricade of pillows tucked beneath an extra blanket, like he'd tried to trick me into thinking he was still there.
Voices drift in from the kitchen, immediately drawing my attention and chasing any lingering thoughts of sleep away.
"...you can stay here tonight."
"I appreciate it, but I didn't grab any clothes on the way out."
I push myself up slowly, the blanket sliding into my lap as I listen.
"You're going to walk back to the barracks now? Alone?" Korr asks, sounding mildly concerned.
"I'll be fine."
My stomach sinks. There's still a bloodthirsty monster lurking around campus.
"Don’t be stubborn, Matt," I call out, my voice rough with sleep, ‘You’re staying here and sleeping with me. It’s not like I haven’t seen you in your underwear a million times.”
Silence falls for a beat.
Then Matt's footsteps fill the room as he walks toward me, looking equal parts surprised and entertained.
“While I wish I could hold you all night so you get a good night’s rest, the Captain gets pissy about sleepovers.” His voice lowers slightly, only pretending to whisper, “Big guy’s just upset he’s not invited. Now, go climb in bed, I’ll be back tomorrow at nine to pick you up for brunch.”
“No way! If it's safe enough for you to walk home in the middle of the night, it’s safe enough for me to meet you at the barracks.”
“Fine, I’ll meet you at the obstacle course at nine.”
“That’s not—”
“Lee, just give me this win,” he laughs.
“Okay, fine. I’ll meet you at the obstacle course at nine.”
Matt squeezes me one last time before letting go and pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “Sleep, Lee.”
“Let me know when you make it to your room, Mattey.”
“Always.”