Page 47 of Blood We Steal

She handed me a bowl, and I looked at Rubin. He shook his head. “You eat.”

I kept my features neutral, and then took a bite.

Veronica stared at me. “Well?”

“It’s…not terrible?” I said.

She laughed, the sound rich and hearty. “I guess I’ll take that.”

She turned back to the stove and I finished the concoction. It wasn’t satisfying, but it warmed me and took the edge off the hunger. It also wasn’t a honey bun, so I’d call this meal a win.

“Thank you, Veronica,” I said.

She just nodded, and Rubin and I left again. I walked the entire floor with him and he stopped by all of the pods. Whenever he approached, the men would get quiet, but Rubin would nod and they’d go back to whatever amusement they were using to distract themselves. Dominoes, cards, chess, and I didn’t even hazard a guess at what was happening in the cell with a sheet hung over the window. Rubin had laid out the rules, no predation chief among them, and left the men to their own devices. So circumstances notwithstanding, I hoped they were having a grand time.

“Another light bulb is out,” I said as we made our way back to the warden’s office.

“Make note of the location, but it may have to stay out. There’s only a few left,” he said as he opened the door to the warden’s office.

He took a moment to glance around the room and I followed his gaze. The men had been busy. The warden’s slightly fancy but mostly functional office had been completely revitalized.

“Where did all this stuff come from?” I asked, momentarily distracted. The desk was still there—which, of course it was—but there was a surprisingly nice couch that I was sure had a fold-out bed, a rack with clothes that undoubtedly belonged to Rubin, and other accoutrements.

“Damian thought it would be useful if I had my things here. I didn’t want to get too comfortable, so I made the warden keep them in storage near his office. Given current circumstances, it seemed wasteful not to use it. I just wish I’d had enough foresight to bring a year’s supply of food,” he said.

I chose not to respond to that. I knew the aching pain of hunger. We weren’t there. Not yet. “That’s a near-exact replica of the couch you had in your old office.”

“Creature comforts, right? If I was going to be denied my freedom for however long, I—or Damian—thought it would be a good idea to have these things.”

“But you never used them.” Aaron definitely would have mentioned that.

“No. Putting this stuff in a cell doesn’t change it from a cell. And besides, every night on the metal rack with the half-inch foam pad reminded me of what you had done to me.”

I refused to flinch. The inside of my cheek stung from me biting it, fighting to hold back the words. That wasn’t something that was usually difficult for me, but something about Rubin, the intensity of his gaze, being in his presence, made words bubble up and worse made me want to let them spill out.

I resented that. I didn’t owe him an explanation. But knowing that didn’t change the inclination.

“What about the guards? The chatter?” I said, turning to try to refocus us. “You don’t seem concerned.”

“They are plotting something,” Rubin said. “And I would expect no less. Would be disappointed if they weren’t, especially Merrick.”

“And you’re not worried?”

He shrugged. “A useless emotion. And besides, an animal behaves in accordance with its nature. That’s something I can handle. When they’re unpredictable…that is the concern.”

He had been stepping closer to me, and I stayed still, trying to pretend like I didn’t notice.

“You disobeyed me, Simone.”

“Yeah,” I said, not bothering to deny it. “You told me to stay. I left.”

The so what hung in the air. Foolish. Ridiculously stupid, in fact. As much of a challenge as I had ever given Rubin, at least directly. He’d have to do something with it. The question was what. A secondary question—one I would have to figure out—was why I had done it. I didn’t disagree with him about the nature of animals. And I knew Rubin’s nature well.

That unspoken challenge hung there. Chum in the ocean, a red flag in front of a bull, all the cliches I could think of to describe what I had done.

His eyes didn’t change, and save the almost imperceptible stiffening of his jaw, there was nothing to give him away. But I knew. Wouldn’t be able to say why, but I saw the exact moment something in him snapped.

I should have stepped back.