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Her voice rang out strong and confident but friendly. As if I could trust anyone ever again—it didn’t matter what my impression was. I followed the direction of her gesture and found the pint glass. A sharp pang overwhelmed me, the instinct to seize it quickly. I hadn’t realized how parched I was until that moment. I shifted upright and gulped the entire pint in seconds.
“Take it easy. You’ll give yourself a cramp.”
With the empty glass back on the nightstand and my hands in my lap, I wondered what came next. Where Maverick had gone was a mystery I didn’t care to solve. Despite the heat in my chest–which somehow I knew was his presence—he could stay gone from my life.
But this woman, still standing at the door trying not to spook me, I didn’t know who she was or what she wanted. Still positive I’d never been here, there was a faint familiarity, the interiors similar to one I’d visited not long ago.
“You’re at the house Maverick shares with Lux and Stone. You’ll be safe here until he wakes, and you two can discuss… whatever’s going on with you.”
She didn’t know?
Shocked at first, I wasn’t sure I believed her. Not over the more likely scenario that she was sparing me the embarrassment. “You don’t know?”
“I can take a guess, but no. I don’t know any of the details. Neither does Stone nor Lux.”
The truth rushed back to me like a flaming ball of shit thrown at my face. My whole body flushed with the heat of fury, and I let out a puff of breath through my nose like a bull. “He claimed me and then said I was dying…” The lump in my throat wouldn’t allow me to continue the story, but it wanted to spill out of me like Maverick’s guts would fall from him as soon as I managed to get out of that bed.
She inclined her head. “He messaged me for help just before he went into stasis with you. He wanted us to bring you both here, where you are safe, to renew your power sources.”
Swallowing, my breathing turned shallow with the bubbling fury inside. “He’s here?”
“In the room next door.”
I turned from her. She was his friend, and I didn’t want to look at her either. “Good. After I have something to eat, I’m going to kill him.”
She laughed. “You can’t kill him, and anyway, I can’t let you try. But I do believe you; I believe that your feeling is justified. Hold on to that.”
I stared at her, trying to figure out if she was serious. If she really suggested I hold my grudge and stay mad. “Really?”
She shrugged. “I’ve known Maverick a long time. He could use a counterbalance like you.”
“He… He’s done this before?”
Her eyes grew large, and she pulled back an inch. “Oh no, never!” She laughed. “But the thing about Maverick is, you learn to expect the unexpected. I would never have predicted this… situation. What could have possessed him to claim you if you… weren’t willing?” The last words were gently probing, testing her assumption.
I raised my chin. “No, absolutely not. I said no, and he held me down and did it anyway.”
Horror flashed across her eyes before they returned to neutrality. She nodded, lips tight. “It’s not like him. He doesn’t even let anyone get close. But what is like him is that his behavior is always this fucking startling. He never fails to shock us, Tess. You’ll have to get used to that, too.”
“I’m not getting used to shit. He can get used to living without me.”
She gave me a gentle look that had ‘not the time to crush your hopes and dreams’ all over it. “You’re hungry, you said, right? Come out, and we’ll prepare something to get your energy up. You’ve been out a week.”
“A week?”
She nodded and disappeared. Or rather, she slipped out in a very strange, almost shadow-shifter kind of way. I didn’t even notice the door open. But I heard it click closed again.
There was another door on the other wall, by the foot of my bed, which I expected to be a bathroom, and thankfully, I was right. After relieving myself, I padded out to the hallway and followed the voices down the stairs and into the kitchen.
The counter was covered in platters of sandwiches, pizza, a quiche, some fruit salad, a roast chicken, a plate of hot dogs, a salad, and a few bags of different brands of chips.
I brought my hands up to cup my mouth and nose, closing my eyes and breathing slowly to a count of seven. “Please don’t tell me you’re having a party.”
Lux shook his head. “Just didn’t know what you’d like.”
“How did you even know when I’d wake up?”
He smiled, held his palm up, and a pot of yogurt materialized. He handed it to me.
