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“Doing what?” I asked through gritted teeth as she pulled a fitted tank over her head, going braless beneath the thin navy fabric.
“The trials,” she retorted, shooting me a raised brow glare over her shoulder. “I’m not interested in being inducted into your fucking cult.”
“Cult?” Rook asked, squinting then nodding as though he might agree with the assessment.
“Sect,” she tried again, rolling the word around in her mouth. “Whatever the fuck you call a group of sinners dressed as Saints.”
“It’s too late for that, AJ,” Grey said, perching on the edge of her desk. The growing light of the day deepened the shadows beneath his eyes. Our roles reversed for the moment. He didn’t sleep last night either. I heard him pacing in his bedroom. Rifling through pages until long past dawn. “We’ve been over this.”
Did she really think this was optional? The frustration heating my blood made me unsteady on my feet, and I had to grit my teeth to keep my frame from wavering. Last night wasn’t the only one I hadn’t slept through. It’d been days. My bones were heavy with fatigue, muscles strained from overuse without rest.
“It’s already begun,” I intoned, my voice flat. Dead. “Your first trial could be today. We won’t be in on all of them. They can happen anytime. Any place.”
“Yeah. Yeah. And anyone or anything is fair game. If I don’t comply, I die. If I fail, I die. And if I somehow make it through the whole fucked up thing alive, I’ll be in so deep that your dear ol’ dad will own my ass for the rest of my life.I remember.”
“You should be grateful, Sparrow. If Grey hadn’t done what he did, you’d be six feet under..”
“Ha!” She sneered, her face contorting with rage as she stepped up to me, jabbing two fingers into my chest, poking the beast within. “IfIhadn’t done whatIdid, it would beyour assburied six feet under.”
A muscle in my jaw ticked, and she must’ve seen something in my stare because she backed off a step, dropping her arm with a grimace.
“There’s no way out of this,” Rook said, joining the conversation with a cavalier shrug.
Ava Jade clamped her mouth shut, and I knew she was already thinking of ways she might do just that. Though I doubted she was about to share any of them with the group.
“Aves?” Becca called from outside the room, the front door of the apartment sweeping closed behind her with a click. “You in here?”
Ava Jade tipped her head up to the ceiling with a sigh and closed her eyes before tossing her towel toward the bathroom floor and leaving the room.
“Babe, wherewereyou? I texted, but you didn’t…”
Rebecca Hart’s words trailed off into shocked silence as we followed Ava Jade from her bedroom.
“Sorry, Becks,” Ava Jade said, her frustration clearly evident in her voice. “I gotheld up.”
She sent a pointed glare in our direction as she pilfered through the coffee on the counter, trying to dump way too much espresso into the portafilter.
“Um,” Rebecca said, swallowing as she glanced between us and her roommate, making her way carefully toward the kitchen. “Here,” she offered, gingerly taking the portafilter out of Ava Jade’s shaking hands. “Let me do it.”
She stooped to whisper something to Ava Jade, who gave her head a miniscule shake.
“Apologies for the intrusion,Becks,” I said. “We’ve just come to collect Ava Jade, and then we’ll be on our way.”
Her mouth opened in a little ‘o’ of surprise as the color leached from her face. She didn’t respond to me, instead looking to her roommate for confirmation.
Ava Jade leaned heavily against the counter with a soft groan, watching the espresso drip steadily from the portafilter into a bowl-shaped mug.
“Grey,” I growled, and he turned, heading back into her bedroom to begin packing the duffle still clenched in his fist.
“Aves?” Rebecca asked, her panicked whisper meant only for my Sparrow. “Are you really going with them?”
“No,” she replied, locking eyes with me across the room. “I’m not.”
“Yes,” I argued, taking another step toward the kitchen. “You are.”
Becca turned off the steamer wand and slammed the metal jug of hot milk down atop the marbled counter top, making some slosh out the top as she spun to face us.
“Look, I don’t know what the fuck you’re doing here,” she said, her dark eyes alight with fear and the misplaced desire to protect her friend. “But if Ava Jade says she isn’t going with you, then sheisn’t going with you.You should leave.”
