Page 93 of Sin

I’d sealed those shields shut nice and tight after that. Not even I went there.

“Who was that man?” Mare asked me after I’d blocked her out.

I’d had to clamp my hands in my lap to hide my trembling. “No one. Just a prison officer.”

The look she’d given me told me she knew I wasn’t telling her the full story. Which made sense. Why would he be in my fears if he was no one?

“You know, I’ve been thinking,” Mare said as my walls once again struggled to hold against her. “Why do you build your shields with bricks?”

“I…” I trailed off because I didn’t have an answer for her. “I don’t know. When I was younger and learning to build them, I just pictured bricks. Why?”

She tapped her thigh, thinking hard. “I think you should try to make them out of something stronger.”

“Really?”

She nodded. “Yeah, think of one of the strongest materials you know of and try building them like that. A wall isn’t just a wall because it’s made of bricks. A wall can look however you want.”

We practiced harder after that. Mare came at me with everything she had.

The pain was all-consuming, like someone was taking a bunch of pickaxes and hacking away at my skull. Internally, I screamed, taking what little concentration I had left and focused on building a shield against her attack.

I pictured walls of glittering diamonds erecting around my skull, encasing my mind in a dome structure. The diamonds grew like those stalagmites in caves, and I screamed again as I forced layer upon layer to sprout around me, shielding me from Mare’s invasion.

She hadn’t been able to break in after that.

After taking a break for the next hour or so, I tried to pass the time sleeping, but I wasn’t tired anymore. I was restless, a little car sick since Lewis was once again in the driver’s seat, and also a little anxious since we were only a few hours away from our destination.

“I’m so fucking bored,” I whined, the silence finally getting to me. I couldn’t take it anymore. My stomach growled. “And hungry.”

Mare smirked at me. “We can always practice your shields some more?” she suggested, wiggling her fingers at me. But I didn’t think she’d violate me like that without my permission. Not anymore. We were friends now. Sort of, at least. And I was too exhausted to keep practicing any longer.

“I’m bored, but not that bored.” I pressed my nose to the window scanning the signs along the freeway.

“There’s a Wendy’s coming up,” Jinx pointed out as a sign informed us that several different fast food chains were off the next exit.

I groaned, and my stomach did a little twist at the thought of eating another fast food burger. “I don’t know if I can handle another burger.”

“They have chicken too,” he countered.

London twisted in his seat to peer back at me. He shot me a small smile, and my heart fluttered at the gesture. He’d been trying to sneak glances back at me the entire drive, and I was pretty sure the entire team knew something had happened between the two of us. Just something positive this time. “Why don’t we sit down and eat?”

Blade blinked at him like he’d just spoken a foreign language, Lewis swerved the car, Jinx pumped his fist, and Mare, fucking Mare, bounced in her seat like a kid being told they got to skip school that day.

“Really?” Mare asked, gripping my shoulder and making me flinch as her claws unintentionally dug into my skin. Or maybe it was intentional. I never knew with her. “What’s the special occasion?”

For a split moment, London looked unsure if he’d made the right decision to offer. But then his expression steeled with determination, and he shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal to delay our road trip by an hour or two. Knowing the team, we probably wouldn’t make it back onto the road for at least three. “No special occasion. I just think you all have earned it. Besides, we’re almost to Clarksville, and we have our programs running to look for him. They’ll let us let us know if he comes out of hiding or causes any power issues. And I…” He cleared his throat, looking ashamed. “I don’t think I've recovered enough to use my powers yet, so we’re just going to be waiting around anyway. But just this once, and only one drink,” he said, pointing a finger at each person in the van as if daring them to ask this of him again. “After tonight, you’ll have to live with burgers.”

“Or chicken,” Jinx reminded.

London rolled his eyes, but he smiled too. “Or chicken.”

The others immediately started looking into different restaurants, offering their opinions on where they wanted to eat.

But while they were distracted, London held my gaze, and it was like all sound ceased around us. I barely heard the others in the van as they talked with one another, pulling up restaurant after restaurant on their phones. The only sound was my thrumming blood in my ear and the heady beat of my heart. Because the way London was looking at me was… familiar. It reminded me of the past when he could make me come undone with a single smile, could make me do his bidding with a single look.

“Thank you,” I mouthed, knowing he was doing this for me and unsure what to do right now.

He simply winked, winked, in response before he faced forward once more.

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