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It doesn’t take me long to clean up, not with my mind on her body and when I can get inside her again. When I exit the bedroom, drying my hair with the towel, my boxer briefs on, for now at least, I find her scrambling eggs with a phone pressed to her ear.
My heart stops, and I close the distance in a few strides, snatch the phone from where she’s holding it between her head and her neck, and hang it up. “What the hell are you doing?”
She freezes, the spatula raised, the sheet precariously close to falling since I set her off-balance. “What’s wrong?”
I wave the phone at her. “Who were you talking to?”
“Valentina. I haven’t spoken to her since the cabin, and I wanted to give her an update on things.”
I don’t let her continue explaining. She trails me as I march to the bedroom, grab the suitcases from the closet, and toss them on the bed. “Start packing.”
She hugs the sheet to her chest. “Why? What’s going on? I don’t want to leave again.”
While I’m thinking about it, I switch the phone off and take out the battery. Then swing around and grab clothes to wear and the ones that need to go into the case.
Her hands are cold when she grabs my bicep. “What’s going on? Talk to me.”
“You called Valentina. We’ve had a spy in the house for some time. We thought we had gotten rid of her, but we can never be sure. Not to mention anyone can be bugging our phones, or computers, this apartment, all of it.”
The confused look she wears shifts, her lips turning down, her gaze heavy. “If you were that worried about it, why didn’t you say something?”
I throw clothes in the case and look at her side of the closet. “Because I didn’t want to give you even more to worry about when you are just…”
“Just what?”
I stop and swallow hard, meeting her eyes. “When you were just starting not to hate me.”
She shakes her head, chasing me into the closet this time. “I never hated you. You piss me off a lot, sure, but I’ve never hated you.”
Nothing I can say will make this all right. We have to leave again, and it’s been my fault from the beginning. It’s not fair to her. I sit on the end of the bed, abandoning the fistful of clothes I’m holding, letting them slip to the floor. “You can stay here. They only want me. She only wants me.”
Rose shuffles to me and sinks down so she can look up at my face. “What about the council here, your sister? They are supposed to be protecting us. That’s why we came here and did that whole dog and pony show, to begin with.”
My tongue feels thick, and I have to swallow before I can speak again. “Yeah, but there haven’t been any calls, any guards, nothing. I’m starting to think my sister can’t protect us any more than she can protect herself. Why do you think she was so intent on making an alliance with the council of another powerful city? She’s scared of something or someone.”
“Can we help her?” she asks, sliding her hand up my thigh to tangle our fingers together.
I snort and look away. “You are too kindhearted for this world. She’d hang you out to dry in a second if it furthered her political ambitions. A guppy can’t help a shark, not unless it wants to be food.”
She scowls, pulling her hand from mine. “I may be too nice, but that’s not something I should be ashamed of or stop doing because everyone else is a dick.”
I fold over and cradle my head as she walks out of the room. Awesome. I’m messing things up all around today. I give myself a minute to wallow, then I get up, face the suitcases, and start folding again.
I’m almost done when she comes back into the room, grabs some clothes, and storms back out again. It’s not our first argument, or hell, even our second, but those were before when I had to fight her into living, into staying. This time, both of us, and not just her, have to face facts. We are different people, and we see the world differently.
I sit on the edge of the bed again, using the space to fold the clothes even though it doesn’t really matter since they are all going in the case anyway. Does Adrian have this same problem? Valentina is one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met. How does he reconcile her tender heart with his dark one? None of us are deluded enough to think we are kind, or generous, or anything like that. But Valentina and Rose, they aren’t the same as us.
It’s only a matter of time before they realize we don’t deserve them.
28
ROSE
I can hear him throwing things around in the bedroom, mostly grumbling as he shifts the cases and tosses clothes into them. Occasionally, I’ll hear a boot and a muttered curse. Once I’m dressed, I resolve to stay out of there, at least until packing is no longer not an option. We’ll be leaving whether I like it or not. That’s what he hasn’t said.
I hate that I don’t have a choice and that we can’t find somewhere to settle and be safe. I’m barely coming back to myself, and I don’t want things to be continually ripped from my grasp.
With him occupied, I sit in the living room, staring out at the view. It truly is stunning. Maybe soon, when things have resolved, we can see his home there. I’m eager to talk to my cousin again, and even more so to live in a place that is mine, ours even. However long I’ll get that luxury.
