Soph glances over her shoulder as the numbers above the elevator climb.
“Shit! Fine. Okay!” I toss the damn pill onto my tongue and chase it with the entirety of what’s left in my cup. I drink it like a shot and slam the mug back onto my desk, then I slump in my chair and wait… to die. To seize. To have an allergic reaction. To bleed out of my ears.
I wait and wait and wait, and yet…
Curious, Aubree takes a pen from her coat pocket and moves it in front of my eyes, then she covers just one with her palm, waits, and uncovers it again.Checking my pupils. “How do you feel?”
“Like I’m part of a trial with ten other people, but I got the placebo pill.” I press my fingers to the side of my neck and count each beat of my heart. “Did I get the placebo, Soph? Because if we went through all this just for shits and giggles, I’m going to lose my mind.”
“Definitely didn’t get the placebo.” She licks her lips and studies me as intently as Aubree does, then as the elevator stops on our level and dings to announce its arrival, she sits taller.
Not to give me space. But to shield me, I think.
Aubree bounces off my desk and sprints across my office on fast feet. Swinging the door wide so the suck of air is audible, she seals everyone’s fate with a gentle, “Don’t panic.”
Yeah. That’ll work.
“What?” Archer barges straight past her and storms around Soph, his gaze dropping instantly to the bloody patch on my shirt, then to the ridiculous tampons still plugging my nose. He grabs my jaw in a grip tight enough to bruise if he’s not careful, then he tips my head one way and inspects my face. He tilts it the other way and inspects a little more. “What happened?” He lowers into a crouch and stares up at me through terror-filled eyes. “Please, babe. Say it quick, because I can’t take much more?—”
“It’s actually not so serious.” Soph slides off my desk and snags both hairy wax sticks from the trash can. “Just a bleeding nose.”
“It’s infusion day, and I sprang a leak.” I press a kiss to his pounding wrist and wish he never had to feel such fear over something as innocuous as a nosebleed. “I’m not hurt. I’m not in pain. Idolook ridiculous.” I flick the silly strings and choke out a quiet snicker. “Everything is fine, I promise, so take a breath and relax.”
“But don’t breathe through your nose,” Aubree jokes. “It stinks in here.”
“You sprung a leak?” He searches my eyes. My nose. My lips. His attention drops to the stark red splotch on my shirt, then to my hands. “Bleeding nose?”
“Yes. Just a bleeding nose, I promise.”
He swallows a suffocating lump of nerves, so I see it, literally, moving along his throat. “Okay.”
“It’s too damn hot out, and I’ve been digging around a dumpster in an alleyway for hours, so I guess my blood was running thinner than usual.”
“You’re okay.” He exhales a noisy breath of relief. “You’re safe.”
Say it all, Mayet. Say it fast. “I took one of Jen’s trial Factor meds.”
“You—” He snaps his lips closed. I’m pretty sure he stops breathing. Stops functioning. Stops existing.
“About a minute ago,” I rush on.“My options were to go home and infuse, or sit here and try Jen’s thing.”
“You chose the—” He closes his lips again, so the clack of his teeth filters into my soul.Please don’t be angry. Please don’t be angry. Please don’t be angry.“You chose Jen’s untested, not-yet-approved trial drug?”
Furious, he draws his dangerous glare around to Sophia so even the formidable, fearless ballerina takes a single step back. But then he brings his eyes to me again. “Did you choose that, or were they forced on you?”
“She—”
Though Soph tries to answer, he cuts her off with an outstretched hand. A stop sign. A warning. Then he tucks my hair back and searches my eyes.
“I chose,” I rasp. “New details have come to light regarding the testing phase, so I made the decision I felt was best in this situation.”
His jaw clenches. His teeth grind. His entire soul burns with the temper he works so hard to bottle. But his eyes, on mine, soften. “Okay.”
My breath comes out in an explosive, stunned exhale. “Okay?”
He strokes my cheek with the pad of his thumb. “As long as the choice was yours, I trust you to choose well.”
“Really?” My voice crackles, which only adds another weird layer to my already weird tone. “That’s it?”
