Chapter 31 Riven
Riven
Wow.
There are a million words, and none at all, to describe my night with Sloane.
Somehow, wow is the only word that my brain can formulate.
I thought that exposing Sloane to my darkness would dim her light, but it only illuminated it.
My little nightmare has infiltrated my dreams, and I don’t ever want to go back to a time or place without her in it.
I meant what I said about her being mine. I meant everything else, too.
I’m not sure she understands the enormity of my words.
I will hunt her down to the ends of the Earth and beyond that if she ever tries to run.
I will also destroy anything or anyone in my path that seeks to separate us.
I’ve had a taste of the sweetest fruit, and now I’ll never be satiated. There’s just one little problem.
Her father.
I might have told Callum that those “sensors” on Sloane’s bedroom window were only alarms, but that wasn’t entirely the truth.
Those sensors double as cameras. I knew that if I told him, he would never allow me to place them inside her bedroom.
I know it’s wrong, and yet, I couldn’t help myself from being able to watch her every move.
I happened to pull up the feed at the exact moment she was placing those photos she took from me inside a little box on her bookshelf. She’s such a sneaky little thing.
I kept watching her until she decided to leave her apartment.
That’s when I disarmed the system, walked in, and took the photos back.
They are mine, after all. I know she’s still going to be searching for them.
The idea that Van has something to do with her father’s murder has already been planted in her head.
I’m not in a rush to clear Van’s name, but I also can’t allow her to discover the truth.
If she did, then we would both lose her.
Like I said, this whole double life thing is getting pretty hazy.
The lines are intertwining in a perilous fight to become one.
My phone dings, pulling me from my thoughts.
Callum: Still meeting today at Raithes?
Riven: Yep, be there in 15.
I’m meeting with the guys at Raithe’s apartment today to check in and to come up with a plan to infiltrate Sonus Corp.
It’s time. If Sabel and whatever prick she’s working for are allowed much more time, they might succeed at whatever the fuck they are planning.
Seeing the way Sabel controlled the last group was horrifying.
We have to stop it. We’ve been sitting on our hands for entirely too long as it is.
It’s only a matter of time before Sabel truly discovers that Sloane is an outlier.
Sabel will come for Sloane, and that would be everyone’s worst nightmare, because I would unleash hell on Earth.
In fact, hell wouldn’t be enough for what I’d have planned for Sabel if she touched a single red hair on Sloane’s beautiful head.
I change, throwing on a pair of navy sweatpants and a black tee.
I head out to my garage, eyeing my car and my bike.
I chose the bike. The weather is beautiful, and the fresh air will be good for me right now.
I grab my helmet from the handlebars and put it on, buckling it.
I climb onto the bike, pull out my phone, and thumb through my playlist until I find the song that I want.
I hit play, pocketing my phone. I flip up the kickstand and start her up, backing out of the garage.
I take off toward Raithe’s house as the warm breeze hits me and “Numb” by Sleep Theory filters through my helmet speaker.
? ? ?
I pull up to Raithe’s street. His apartment is crammed between a tattoo parlor and a boarded-up bodega.
The faded bricks of the building are tagged with spray paint, and the fire escape rattles faintly in the breeze.
It’s pure chaos, but Raithe claims to enjoy that about it.
It looks like Cal and Kai are already here.
My pulse relaxes when I see Kai’s car, because I can never be too certain that he’ll show for these things.
I park the bike, climb off, and rest my helmet on the handlebar before walking toward the beat-up door.
I knock once before walking inside, stepping into the small foyer.
I hear laughter from the living room, realizing how good it sounds to hear them all together, and happy.
I walk through the foyer and stop in the archway of the living room.
“Hey, man,” Raithe says from his place on the navy lounge chair in the corner of the room.
“What’s so funny?” I ask, walking over to take a seat next to Cal on the sofa. Kai is sitting in a lounge chair opposite Raithe.
“We were being forced to listen to Raithe go on and on about his extracurriculars,” Cal grunts, placing air quotes around extracurriculars.
“So many girls, so little time. Isn’t that what you said, Raithe?” Kai chimes in, leaning back and crossing an ankle over his knee. He’s playing with a toothpick between his teeth. That guy always has something in his fucking mouth. Probably an addict thing.
Raithe straightens like he’s being interrogated, but then grins wildly. His right dimple that matches my left one pops. It’s a trait handed down to us by our mother.
“Oh, come on, at least I’m having fun. What are you doing with all of your free time, Cal?” He turns toward Callum. “Too busy brooding and moping to get laid?” he jokes. Cal flexes his jaw and huffs out a sigh.
I can’t help but chuckle at how nothing ever changes between the four of us. It’s the one constant thing that I can always count on.
“I see everyone is doing well, then,” I say, smiling. “Kai, how’s therapy?” I ask, looking over to him. Raithe blows out an exasperated breath like I’m ruining all of the fun.
“Such a buzzkill, Riv,” he jokes. I glare at him and note that he seems fidgety. I find it odd, but I decide to brush it off. Cal laughs at both of us.
Kai stills the toothpick between his teeth and grins. His messy blonde hair falls over his forehead, and his bright blue eyes appear even brighter. It’s a look that I’ve missed. One of sobriety and hope, and … something else.
“Good, man. Like, really good,” Kai says, nodding.
“Don’t leave out the rest of the story, Kai. Tell Riv the best part. That you’re banging your therapist.” Raithe leans over to high-five Kai, to which he does not reciprocate.
“I’m not banging anyone, Raithe.” Kai blushes. That’s something I most certainly have never seen him do. “I like her a lot.” He looks down at his hands, twirling the toothpick between his fingers like he’s a child who’s been scolded for touching the candy jar.
“What do you mean you like her?” I question. Kai looks up through loose strands of his hair.
“She’s amazing.” Kai smiles, staring off at absolutely nothing. I can see it in his eyes. He’s falling, if not already fallen, for his fucking therapist.
“She’s the first person to make me feel like my life matters. She listens. She’s such a good fucking listener, Riv.” Kai’s eyes find mine, and the hope that I see in them stops me from reprimanding him. I can hear his next words before he even speaks them.
“She doesn’t treat me like a child,” he says.
There it is. Guilt hits me like a freight train straight to the gut.
I look over at Raithe to see that he’s no longer grinning.
I look the other way at Cal, who appears tense.
Cal nods his head once like he’s urging me to say something to make this right.
“Kai, I’m so—”
“No. I don’t want your pity,” Kai says, looking around the room.
He points to each of us with the toothpick in his hand like he might plunge one of us to death with it at any second.
“I don’t want your sorry. I need you guys to be there for me as friends, not as my father.
I feel better now than I have in a long time.
And I owe that all to Emery. That’s her name, by the way.
” He pauses. “And no, we are not sleeping together. It’s not like that.
I’m not a complete idiot, you know. I understand professional boundaries and all that shit.
” He relaxes back into the lounge chair, and I relax at his confession.
Whew. We cannot have him lose this therapist if she’s already managed to work a miracle.
“I’m happy for you, Kai, really,” I say, clearing my throat. “So, your turn, Raithe. What’s been up? Other than your extracurriculars, of course,” I say, smirking.
He scoffs. “Well, I’ll have you know that one of my extracurriculars just so happens to know someone on the inside at Sonus.” He leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees. He’s grinning like he knows he delivered the news of the day.
“What?” Cal sits up, turning toward Raithe. “Why the fuck didn’t you say that earlier?”
“Calm down, big guy,” Raithe says coolly.
Cal and Raithe haven’t exactly seen eye to eye for most of the time they’ve known one another.
They are usually at each other’s throats about some shit or another.
They are opposites in every way. Cal isn’t a fan of Raithe’s spontaneous lifestyle, and Raithe thinks that Cal is too uptight.
Cal stands, his large frame looming over me as he fists his hands at his sides. Cal’s glare is fixed on Raithe, who’s grinning up at him like he’s enjoying this.
“Sit, Callum,” I order, and he does. “You were saying, Raithe?” I continue.
Raithe pins Cal with a victory glare, one that I’m sure will cause trouble later on.
“Like I was saying, one of the women I was with last night says she’s married to someone on the inside at Sonus. I think her name was Tanya or Tammy or something with a T.” He pauses, thinking. There are so many things wrong with what he just said, but I let them all slide to skip to the point.
“Okay, and what did T … she say?” I press.