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Or maybe that was me.
It had to be because the tightness in my chest indicated a lack of air. Her stepdad, an older man, brought his gaze in my direction, and I watched his expression change. His head cocked, his eyes going curious, and for two seconds, I hoped for something. I hoped that someone out there would forgive me. That they’d let this one… my past and the decisions I’d made go. They’d spare me and move on to someone else.
That they’d spare her.
“Ares…” Anton said, and I knew in that moment my wish had been denied. My sins would be upheld as well as the repercussions that should have come long ago. I’d naïvely thought I had been spared.
As if a sinner wasn’t always a sinner.
“Ares, this may seem like an odd question, but do I know you?” Her stepfather’s question came innocently, and it was innocent. I probably was just a case file to him. One of many.
The heat that hit me surprised me, but I pushed that away to focus on Fawn. That space between us felt like continents now. Especially when her head tilted. She faced me with her own version of innocence, vulnerability. She had no idea what was going on, but in a way, she should.
After all, a monster didn’t stop being a monster.
Fawn
Anton saying he knew Wolf didn’t really make any sense.
I peered at Wolf, but he had his dark eyes on my stepfather. His nod was curt. “I suppose you do in a way, sir,” he said, and my mouth parted. Wolf faced me, and a noticeable muscle fluttered in his jaw. His Adam’s apple bobbed. “I submitted my case to you for treatment a while back.”
He… what?
My eyes narrowed, not understanding. I started to speak, but Anton stepped forward.
“That’s right. Your doctor… he sent it to me,” my stepfather said, and though Anton was speaking to Wolf, Wolf’s gaze didn’t avert from me. That tight muscle feathered his jaw again, and he wasn’t just squeezing my hand now.
He gripped it. He braced it as if afraid to let go.
My heart beat rapidly for some reason, not knowing why he was doing this or why he hadn’t told me this information… my heart beat rapid. Words escaped from me, and Anton had his head cocked at us both.
“Yes, Ares Mallick,” my stepdad stated, then suddenly, glanced directly at me. “Fawn, why didn’t you tell me your boyfriend reached out about his case?”
Because I hadn’t known, and Wolf was borderline cringing at me. He was as if he’d done something wrong, and the muscle inside my chest beat harder.
“I… I don’t know,” I said, swallowing hard. “I’m sorry. I…”
I didn’t know what to say. I just knew my boyfriend was looking at me like he had done something wrong and the grip on his hand wouldn’t let up. He held on like he was trying to fuse us together, and something behind his eyes caused my breath to stop. Wolf and I had gotten really good at speaking to each other without speaking to each other. We had to be in front of his family and friends. We never knew what kind of information the doctors would deliver at his appointments, and Wolf never wanted the people in his life to see his worry. He wanted his family and friends to know he was okay, but I knew the truth. I always knew when he was worried, restless.
Don’t let go.
It was like I heard his voice in my head, his grip on me so hard, and Anton, as close as he was, wasn’t a part of the conversation. Wolf and I were too good with our secrets. We were too good at appearing impartial and unaffected. We really did have a secret language, and he was forcing me to use it now for some reason. I didn’t want my stepfather to see how shocked I was my boyfriend hadn’t told me something.
My confusion was evident, but only to Wolf. His throat jumped once more, but before he could speak, Anton did.
“Yes, a difficult case indeed,” Anton said, his hands in his pockets. He had his serious face on, the one he used on TV when speaking to people about anything medically related. He stood there with the look of a doctor. Meanwhile, I was trying not to let him see the truth, to hold on to Wolf and try to understand why he wouldn’t tell me something so important. It wouldn’t make sense that he’d withhold that information. My stepfather was a doctor and a very good one. It’d be natural if Wolf reached out, and he should have. Wolf’s case had been very bad.
It’d been terrible.
It was in fact so terrible that my stepfather would have been the perfect doctor to reach out to. One of the reasons Anton was so well-known was because of the advances he’d made in the field of medicine. He was the one people went to for the difficult cases. The surgeries he’d performed even I knew about, and I didn’t follow that stuff typically. People knew my stepdad.
Wolf knew my stepdad.
Obviously, not personally but he knew of him. He knew enough to know that he’d needed Anton.
My eyes scanned the ground, and all too quickly voices became background noise. I heard Anton speaking. I heard him, but…
“I’d like to speak to you more about your case, Ares,” Anton continued, bleeding through my thoughts, so many thoughts. “Obviously, Fawn is here, um—”
