Page 87 of Power Play

Cade ignored him. “You kept me alive long enough for the doctors.”

“I held pressure on a wound.”

“You stayed with me.”

The words stopped me.

I looked down at the table as the memory shifted beneath them. Maybe that was part of what had fucked me up too. I had spent my childhood learning people disappeared when things got bad, but when Cade went down, I became the one who couldn’t leave.

Briggs leaned his forearms against the table. “That’s the fucked-up part, isn’t it? You spend your whole childhood learning nobody’s coming, then you grow up and finally get people you’d lose your mind trying to save.”

The sentence settled deep as I glanced at Cade again, then Easton, Rider, and Briggs.

“Yeah. That’s pretty much it.”

For several seconds, nobody joked.

Easton finally pointed toward my phone. “You gonna answer your girlfriend, or are we pretending none of us have watched you look at that screen six times?”

I looked down and found Charm’s name across the notification. The smile came before I could stop it, and Briggs made a disgusted noise.

“That fucking face.”

“What face?”

“The tiny-blonde-texted-me face.”

“She has a name.”

“That sounded defensive.”

“It sounded like you’re annoying.”

I opened the message.

Charm: Brown assigned Tennyson for Monday. I blame you somehow.

My mouth curved while I answered.

Ryan: Pick Brontë.

The typing bubble appeared almost immediately.

Charm: That isn’t how assignments work.

Ryan: Academic rules are suggestions.

Charm: You are corrupting my education.

Ryan: You like me anyway.

A few seconds passed before her answer came through.

Charm: Unfortunately.

I smiled wider.

Briggs slapped one palm against the table. “Look at him.”