“You’re unbelievable. What’s gotten into you?”
I laugh darkly. “If I have to tell you why I’m absolutely seething right now, then it’s not worth my time to explain.”
He narrows his eyes at me. “Are you jealous?”
I throw my hands in the air. “It isn’t about jealousy, Ambrose! It’s about respect. Which you clearly don’t have for me,” I finish.
He looks around the dining hall, suddenly aware that we’re still the center of attention. Grabbing my elbow, he pulls me into the hall, away from prying eyes. “What are you going on about?” he demands, his glare trained on me.
I roll my eyes and look away. I know this man isn’t this obtuse.
He grips my chin, turning my head back toward him. “Don’t do that. Don’t shut me out.”
“You disrespected me,” I whisper. “Where was the loyalty? Hmm?” The words are laced with more hurt than anger.
He sighs deeply. “I’m assuming you feel like I betrayed you?” he asks, furrowing his forehead.
I move my mouth to the side, refusing to say any more.
“You’ve never done well with betrayal,” he says simply.
No shit.
“Nori, look at me.” He tilts my head back so that I’m forced to look in those bottomless pools of promise. “I didn’t betray you. We were going over scenarios relating to the professor’s disappearance. As second-years, we have a bit more responsibility on our shoulders regarding the disappearance. More than first-years. I’d never do anything to be disloyal to you,” he promises, staring into my eyes. “I’m sorry Yaretta and I have history. I didn’t even think of her in that way when walking together, which is why I could have never imagined you’d feel any kind of way.”
I believe him, but at this point, it doesn’t even matter. We can’t change what happened and it wasn’t even the reason I was seeking him out to begin with. I’ve been completely sidetracked. The real reason I was looking for him comes rushing back like a punch to the gut. “Did you meet with Professor Tainey the other night?”
He drops his hand from my chin and blinks a few times. Slower than normal. His lips part like he’s going to say something but decides against it.
I cross my arms, step back, and wait for my world to shatter.
Please deny it, Ambrose. Let it just be a big misunderstanding.
He steps forward like he’s going to touch me, but I move out of his grasp. “Ambrose, now is not the time to be evasive.” There’s a hardness to my tone that I don’t use with him. Ever. But at this moment, too much is on the line. A lifelong friendship, a future with the man I love, and buried family secrets that I know nothing about.
“Why?” he asks in a raw voice.
There’s so much emotion packed into the one little word. Fear. Regret. Longing.
There’s just as much emotion in my eyes. Pleading. Dread. Hope.
“Nori…” he whispers.
“No,” I respond, holding up my hand. “Did you or did you not meet with him?”
He lowers his head. “Yes.” It’s so quiet I almost don’t hear him.
I feel like I’ve been punched in the heart before it was roughly removed from my chest. If that part is true, more than likely the rest of everything else Finnley said is as well. And Ambrose knows it. He knows why I’m asking.
“Tell me,” I command, proud that my voice isn’t breaking. “Everything.”
He raises his head, his eyes begging me to let it go. To stop this before there’s no turning back. Students pass by us, unaware that my entire life is on the cusp of shattering. Their chatter and laughter are a macabre backdrop to my demise.
His Adam’s apple moves as he swallows. He closes his eyes before opening them again. Hardened resolve now lingers intheir depths. “I did it to protect you,” he says in an unapologetic tone. “And I’d do it again.”
My breath is coming out in sharp rasps. I want to run from this, but I can’t. The feeling that everything is about to change washes over me. Everything I thought I knew is about to be demolished. The one constant that I had in my life just stabbed me in the heart and is standing over my bleeding corpse, telling me he’d do it all over again, given the chance.
His hands clench at his sides. “Our mothers have been best friends since childhood, Nori. I’ve been in your life since the moment you were born, friendship thrust upon us, whether we wanted it or not. Lucky for us, we were inseparable from the start.” He swallows. “You were the little sister I never asked for but absolutely fucking adored. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t have done for you,” he says, running his hands through his dark waves. He licks his lips and keeps talking. “Which is why, when our mothers approached me at a young age and asked me to be your shadow, I never even hesitated. Why would I? I didn’t think anything of it until we were a little older and your mother approached me again. Alone this time.”
