CHAPTER TEN
CADI
Cadi’s nails tapped against the keyboard, their satisfying clack echoing through the empty charting room as she rushed to add the finishing touches to her note while also trying to ignore the dull throbbing in her skull.
Since Friday night, the pain in her head had improved, but stubbornly refused to fully subside, which meant she had spent the entirety of her weekend curled up on the couch binging her favorite shows and doing her best to avoid any reminders that the world outside of her apartment still existed.
Including the seven text messages from Zoe, each one more insistent with her demands to know where Cadi had gone after Club Ambrosia.
Cadi still didn’t even know what to say. How was she supposed to tell her what happened that night, what Damon had tried to do? Zoe should know the truth, but it was all still so fresh and raw that it made her stomach hurt just thinking about it.
The door to the charting room swung open, pulling Cadi’s focus away from her task to find Zoe standing at the threshold.
One hand propped on her hip, and the nymph had a single eyebrow raised in a look of admonishment that reminded Cadi of every time her mother had caught her in the middle of doing something she definitely should not have been doing.
“Well at least now I know you’re alive,” Zoe chastised as she crossed the room and heaved her massive water bottle onto the desk before slipping into the seat next to Cadi. “You could have at least sent a thumbs-up or something so I knew you weren’t dead in an alley somewhere.”
She spun around, but whatever she had planned to say next died on her lips when her eyes froze on the spot right above Cadi’s eye.
Cadi had spent the morning layering concealer over her bruise and working to blend it with the color of the bandage as best she could, but from this distance there was no hiding the evidence of what had happened that night.
For a brief, terrifying moment, Cadi thought Zoe might ask about it. As much as she wanted to tell the nymph what had happened, the hospital charting room didn’t seem like the best setting for that conversation.
“Sorry,” Cadi said, hopeful that she could steer them in a different direction. “I was pretty much dead to the world for the rest of the weekend.”
Zoe’s gaze shifted away from Cadi’s eyebrow as her look of concern shifted into a sly smile. “I would imagine so. Where did you end up Friday?”
Cadi shrugged. “Just home. I got a headache.”
It wasn’t technically a lie.
Zoe’s shoulders dipped, the grin fading from her face as she turned back to her monitor. “Oh.”
Cadi’s brows drew together at the disappointment in Zoe’s tone. It was almost as if she had been expecting something a bit more scandalous. “Why?”
Zoe shrugged and let out a dramatic sigh. “Oh, just from what Celine told me I thought … you know what, never mind.”
Cadi’s muscles went stiff. She knew she wouldn’t like whatever story Celine had decided to spin, but if she didn’t find out now, she would go insane. “And what exactly did she tell you?”
Zoe looked at her from the corner of her eye, that same smirk slipping back into place.
“Oh, not much. Just that she saw you and Damon getting pretty hot and heavy then leaving together!” She spun back around, beaming as she lunged forward to grip Cadi’s hand.
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me! Celine was definitely not happy, but she’ll get over it.
Oh gods, you have to tell me everything. ”
Cadi’s mouth fell open. She wasn’t sure if it was because of her injury or if her brain was physically trying to reject what she had just heard, but her head felt like she had just stepped off one of those sketchy carnival rides that passed through the city every summer.
There was no way she would be able to function the rest of the day knowing that Zoe thought she had willingly left with that man, workplace propriety be damned.
“Zoe … no. That’s not—he wouldn’t stop grabbing me. I pushed him off and he got mad and then—Zoe, he followed me to my car.”
Zoe stilled, her eyes going wide for a moment before her brows drew together in confusion, clearly struggling to understand what Cadi had just told her.
“Wait, what? That doesn’t—are you sure he followed you? I mean, we were all pretty drunk that night, maybe he thought you were leaving together?”
Cadi stared at her, any response she had prepared sputtering out into a slew of barely audible squeaks.
Heat crept over her body, spreading through her limbs, up her neck, and across her shoulders.
She had replayed the moment over and over, telling herself there was nothing that she had done wrong, nothing that would have changed the choices he’d made, but …
what if she’d missed something? A subtle look that got misinterpreted, or a fleeting touch she hadn’t noticed. Maybe if she had just—
She sat up straight, working a firmness into her tone that she hoped left no room for question. “No. I told him to stop and he followed me regardless. That isn’t my fault, Zoe.”
Zoe tilted her head in a gesture that Cadi assumed was intended to be comforting, but seriously missed its mark. “I’m not saying it’s your fault, it’s just—I don’t know, maybe he misunderstood?”
The flush of heat searing beneath Cadi’s skin flared brighter as she jabbed a finger at her forehead, to the bandage and the deep purple bruise that still tinged her skin despite the layers of makeup. Zoe flinched back at the sudden movement.
“The cut on my forehead and my pounding headache from where he slammed me into my car would suggest otherwise,” Cadi said, trying hard to control the tremble in her voice. “This wasn’t a misunderstanding.”
Zoe pulled in a soft gasp, her gaze returning to the spot above Cadi’s eye. “Cadi … gods …” she said softly, reaching out to take her hand. “I—are you okay?”
Cadi made a gesture that was halfway between a nod and a shrug. “If Elias hadn’t stopped him—”
Zoe stiffened, her expression of concern wavering. “Wait, Elias was there?”
Cadi pulled in a deep breath through her nose. Of all the things she had just said, that was what Zoe chose to focus on?
“That doesn’t matter, the point is, if he hadn’t been there, things could have been a lot worse. It feels like you aren’t fully hearing me right now.”
Zoe’s grip on her hand tightened. “Cadi, I am hearing you, it’s just … this is a lot, and I—Damon is really active in the Order. He wouldn’t—he couldn’t …” Her words trailed off as a hint of uncertainty began to creep into her voice. “I guess I just don’t know what to think.”
Cadi’s eyes dropped to her lap as she slid her hand from Zoe’s and picked at her nail polish, trying to temper the storm raging in her mind.
It would be easy to just stay silent, nod, and let Zoe go about her day while she quietly distanced herself, fading back into the shadows and leaving this whole mess behind.
But something new stirred deep in her chest. A part of her that had been sleeping was finally awake, and it urged her to push into the fight instead of running from it, refusing to let someone else control the narrative of her life.
Something that made her whisper, “You could believe me.”
Zoe stayed quiet, and when Cadi lifted her head, she found Zoe staring at her, pain and conflict swimming in her blue eyes.
“A friend would believe me,” Cadi pressed.
Zoe’s mouth hung open, whether to apologize or argue, Cadi didn’t know, because before she could speak a single syllable, Cadi was on her feet and striding toward the door.
“I have work to do,” she said, though her voice was so quiet she couldn’t be certain Zoe actually heard her as she stepped out of the charting room and into the empty hallway.
She wove through the corridors, looking into every open room until she found one that was empty, then slipped inside and eased the door shut behind her. Her head tipped back against the smooth wood, the edges of her eyes burning with the tears she refused to let herself shed.
A shaky breath slid from between her lips as she pulled her phone from her pocket, fully intending to look up cute animal videos to try to lighten her mood when she saw Sera’s name flash across her screen.
Hey! Lunch?
The message was followed immediately by a location pin, telling her exactly where Sera would be if she chose to join her.
After the disastrous conversation she had just had, if she could even call it a conversation, the invite felt like a breath of fresh air.
No expectations, no demands, just an offer should she choose to accept it.
She chewed the inside of her cheek for a moment, unsure if being in a crowd was really the vibe she needed. Though, maybe it was exactly what she needed. Her instincts had always been to hide away when things got heavy, but maybe it was time to try a different approach.
Besides, she was starving.
Cadi popped a fry into her mouth as she wandered through the eclectic gathering of food carts, working to suppress the embarrassing moan that threatened to break free at the savory mixture of cumin and garlic that danced over her tongue.
Even through the blend of meats, cheeses, and spices that permanently saturated the air surrounding this particular block of the city, Cadi had been drawn directly to the massive vase-shaped cart fashioned entirely out of red pottery.
Its aromatic offerings from the eastern part of the country had started making her mouth water the instant she arrived.
She scanned the crowd for Sera while putting together a running list of all the different spots she wanted to come back and try.
Fried river eel from the sirens of the west, artisan waffles from the mountain lands, even grilled cheese made by a local centaur working out of a cart shaped like a stable.
She knew it was likely impossible for her to experience them all, but she was damn well planning to give it a shot.