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I'd been running around, using my magic like a boss, and I'd been too stupid to stop and eat something. You had to keep the tank full and using magic burned your energy like crazy.
I was lucky Quinton was there to catch me when I passed out. I could have hit my head or something and really hurt myself.
I couldn't eat all the bread, but I finished all the soup easily. I needed to leave some room for my coffee in there, and at this rate if I drank more than one cup I'd likely explode.
I spaced out for a few minutes, or seconds, I couldn't be sure. Now that I no longer felt like my stomach was going to eat a hole in itself, I remembered my dream and the man that was Dash's father. He hadn't exactly been the friendliest guy around, but I could totally overlook that because he wasn't dead. Being alive trumped being a dick any day. I had a feeling Quinton would disagree if he knew some of the things that had come out of Romero's mouth, so I'd just keep the happy little fact that he was a bit of a dick to myself.
The couch dipped under Quinton's weight as he sat down beside me. He rested his elbows on his thighs and his hands dangled down between his open legs.
"We can't tell him."
Dash.
Quinton wanted us to keep big, big secrets from him. Life altering secrets.
"We can't tell him," I agreed with him wholeheartedly. At least for now we couldn't. When we had a solid plan and were ready for an extraction then we could tell him. Probably.
"He might hate us both for a while for keeping this secret from him."
I agree with him on that front as well. And didn't that just completely terrify me. Not to sound too dramatic here, but if Dash hated me for any reason I would just want to crawl in a hole and die.
"What's to stop him from finding out now and going off all by himself and getting himself killed? Since Rain plowed down Adrian's buddy, on their home front no less, they've got to be on high alert. There will be no getting in and out of there without their knowledge. Dash would just get himself killed and you know it. We must keep this from him and everybody else until we can figure out how to get Romero out of there. We can't tell anyone."
I hated to admit it, but he was right about every single thing he'd said. I wanted to cry and then I wanted to go get in my Rover and drive myself to the motel so I could demand the Council give Romero to me. And who the hell knew what would happen to me if I did. There were some things girls couldn't come back from once they'd gone through them. I didn't want to be one of those girls. Ever.
We needed to come up with a plan before one of us got rash here, because I wasn't sure if Quinton was telling me these things because he was trying to convince me this was the right thing to do or himself.
"What exactly is it you're planning on keeping from not only Dash but the rest of us? I'd like to know, if you don't mind."
Quinton and I both jumped like scared little girls who just found out the boogeyman was real and standing directly behind us. We whipped around so fast I almost fell off the couch. The only thing that stopped me was Quinton's hand pressed against the small of my back. He moved faster than I did.
"Julian," Quinton snapped impatiently. "What are you doing lurking around in my house and spying on people? It's incredibly rude."
Leave it to Quinton to get caught with his hand in the cookie jar and act like a prissy, stuck up twat who'd done nothing wrong. God, he could be such an asshole and he made it look like he didn't even have to try. It was a gift, really, it was.
If possible, the look on Julian's face got even darker as he eyed Quinton like he wanted to leap across the back of the couch and beat the life out of him.
Yikes, and here I thought they were such good friends.
Fortunately for the both of them, I'd had enough male bullshit and fist fights to last me for at least another month or two. I wouldn't be greedy and say longer, because I lived with a bunch of men and sometimes shit happened.
I turned on Quinton and poked him in the chest with my finger. "We could use his help. I think we should just tell him the truth."
Besides, it would make me feel a whole lot less guilty if one more person knew the truth. That way we could spread out the blame a little amongst all of us. And, added bonus, Julian really could help us out here. He knew all kinds of nifty tricks that might be useful to us.
Quinton glared at me. "I thought we just agreed we weren't going to tell anyone else, and then when the first person comes along, you're ready to go blabbing your mouth immediately. Jesus, Ariel, where's your spine?"
He was correct, of course. I sucked at deception when it came to the ones I loved. So sue me.
I might be better off if I avoided being around the others until we had this sorted, because I wouldn't be able to hold up under the pressure, I could see it now.
"Why don't you both tell me what's going on and I'll decide if I can help you out or not. Hmm?" Julian was barely containing his anger. It slithered just below the surface of his skin, itching to come out.
He didn't like secrets.
None of us did.
Secrets didn't make friends.
