Page 102 of Wreck Me

I put my phone down, then took a few moments to calm down, before I was able to resume eating my salad, then get back down to sketching for a while.

Shutting out the world around me.

Just as I liked it.

Bastian’s jaw worked as he took in the details that I’d relayed to him of my encounter with Damien earlier.

I waited, leaning against the wall of the stairwell as he continued pacing like he’d been doing for the last few minutes since we’d snuck in here.

“I see,” he finally responded.

That was it?

I frowned. “Really? That’s the extent of your reaction?”

“Yeah. Why?” he asked, coming to me over by the wall.

“You don’t like me interacting with him. It’s hard to believe you’d just let this roll off your back. Especially the part about him spying on us, him knowing that we’re together.”

“He hasn’t seen anything that confirms that, just us talking and eating.”

“It’s not much of a leap.”

“It is for him to be able to do anything with it. He needs concrete proof for that.”

“What happened at the fight club with him seemed to just be mild brotherly shenanigans, just him ribbing you, but after today, it’s clear it’s a lot more than that, yes?”

“You don’t need to worry about any of it, I’ll handle it.”

“Bastian—”

My words caught in my throat when he stroked over my right arm, tracing my tattoo. “So, what’s the deal with this? Why this beautiful lotus?”

“Strength and triumph over adversity. In particular, a reminder to transcend my own darkness as well as all the brutal shit I saw as Onyx.”

“Nice.”

“Not the smoothest subject change.”

“Yet, it still worked.”

“You really don’t want to talk about your issues with him?”

He sighed as he continued tracing my tattoo, sending sparks through me, warming me. “It’ll only agitate me and sour my mood, and I don’t want to do that while I’m here with you. Our time together is already too limited for my liking. Besides, then he wins at getting inside our heads. I spent a lot of time worrying and even then obsessing about what he might do, trying to predict his behavior and the outbursts he’d have every now and then toward me, and it caused me nothing but grief. It cost me a lot of time and energy. I won’t let him get inside my head again and impact me like that. It’s what he wants.”

“So, it never ends then? There will be a period of peace and then he’ll lash out at you?”

His fingers left me and he scrubbed his hand over his face. “Sky, we’re talking about it.”

“I know, but I just want to understand.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s a part of your life, and we’re getting to know each other.”

The corner of his mouth turned up. “Well played. Dammit.”

I chuckled and took his hand. “So?”

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