AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“A little positivity wouldn’t hurt.”
I smothered a yawn and rubbed the back of my neck. “Positivity is nothing more than false hope.”
She threw her head back and laughed. “Girl, you need to go bathe in some sunlight or something. You’re like a big ol ball a misery.”
“Whatever,” I muttered, taking this as my cue to leave before she got to trying to play therapist. I stood from my chair and squeezed past her. “I’m going to catch some z’s. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“I’ll be to the room in a few. Think about what I said about you know who!”
I cringed as her loud mouth drew attention to me. Trix was cool, but the woman was headstrong, opinionated, and the total opposite of a church mouse. She would never understand what was going on with Maliki, so I wasn’t going to waste my breath.
I passed Greer and rolled my eyes, hearing him sweet talk some starry-eyed woman.
He’d have her legs around his waist within the next twenty minutes. Maliki and I had timed him once. As soon as he flashed that boyish smile and dropped a few Spanish lines that they didn’t remotely understand, they were puddles on the floor.
I paused by Addy and Zane, who were now seated at the bar, heads bowed together as they quietly conversed.
The two of them weren’t something I ever expected, but I’d come to accept it despite the opposing factions we came from and the morbid history surrounding our parents.
I knew he would never hurt her, at least not on purpose. He looked at her in a way Butcher had never once looked at me, and at times that made my heart ache.
When the truth was revealed that he never cared, it was too late. There was no time to brace for the blow that came on the heels of his betrayal. His narcissism and manipulation of my affection ruined a naivety in me I wasn’t aware I had until he crushed it.
Taking a quiet breath, I cleared my face of any negative emotion.
They knew I wasn’t happy, but I didn’t want them thinking I was sad, either.
I gently tapped Addie’s shoulder to get her attention. She lifted her head and glanced back at me with a smile.
“What’s up?”
“I’m turning in. Do you need anything?”
“Nothing I can’t handle,” Zane answered before she could.
“Seriously? Why don’t you just piss all over her?”
He gave me a smug grin. “How do you know I haven’t?”
“That’s disturbing.” I eyed him with thinly veiled disgust. What did you get when you mixed a territorial asshole and an aggressive caveman? Zane. You got Zane.
“Ignore him, it’s past his bedtime. He did not pee on me, and if he ever tries, he’ll be minus his third leg. Do you want me to walk you?”
“Across the street? No, I think I can handle it. Besides, Charon is out there somewhere.”
Zane scoffed and she slapped his arm. I knew he wasn’t a huge fan of me trusting a bird, but I didn’t give a damn. Charon was special. He was a gift from my dad and went everywhere I did for the most part. He was my watchdog but with wings and a beak.
“Okay, well, I think we have a lead.” Her words were spoken as cautiously as they were the last time she’d told me this, which admittedly seemed forever ago. That aside, her sudden need to tread carefully around me was starting to grind on my last nerve.
I was fragile, but not like a delicate flower or piece of glass. I was fragile like a bomb, guaranteed to explode if not handled correctly.
I understood she wanted to protect me, and on some level she knew I wasn’t the same person I was a month ago, but I could deal with an empty lead.
I wasn’t walking around with a bouquet of hope. Hope was dangerous, hope was fickle and, when it was snatched away, all it left behind were feelings of desolation.
As with most things these days, this wasn’t worth a debate. I forced a smile. “I look forward to hearing all about it then, after I get some sleep.”
Stares followed me all the way out of the bar. I paid them no mind. My body was covered in tattoos from neck to toe with the Savage insignia standing out the most. That, coupled with my mother’s European roots and Dad’s dark features, had made me used to receiving heavy judgment from strangers.
