Page 15 of The World Undone

But hopefully it would be enough to hold her over until the others could join in.

I could see her mind working overtime, her eyes asking a thousand questions at once, like she couldn’t decide where to start. She shook her head and pushed my hands away from her. “It’s been a week, Eli. There were plenty of opportunities for one of you to slip in a quick, “Hey, Max, I channeled your powers, isn’t that weird? We should probably figure that out.”

“Fair point,” Levi said with the kind of casual interest someone might employ while observing a mildly entertaining tennis match.

“That includes you too, Levi,” she snapped. “You knew about this too and didn’t tell me either.”

He withered slightly under her glare, then stood up and took a step towards her. She raised her hand stopping him.

I bit back my smirk, then swallowed it completely when she turned that anger in my direction. “It could be dangerous; you could have been hurt. Eli, what if I’ve been unintentionally putting you in danger? Opened up a link or something that I don’t know how to close, how to control.” She took a step back, her gaze dropping to her hands, like they might spontaneously combust. “What if I hurt you?”

Fuck.

Of course she’d find a way to feel guilty about this—to feel responsible.

For something I’d done.

Something I’d kept secret.

“Max, no, you’re not endangering anyone.” I reached for her again, slowly this time, then closed the distance when she didn’t move further away. I pressed my lips softly to hers, then whispered against her lips, ignoring Levi entirely. “I promise. No more secrets between us. It won’t happen again.”

Her expression shifted, flattening out, then she dropped her eyes from mine, offering only a nod in response. “Yeah,” there was something lingering there—something I couldn’t put my finger on. When she opened her mouth like she was going to say something else, my stomach clenched with fear. But she just shook her head, gave me a weak smile, and said, “Okay, no more secrets.”

“Well,” Levi brushed some invisible dirt from his pants. “Now that the lovers’ spat is through—and far less climactic and entertaining than I’d hoped—and since Seamus is likely going to be under for another couple of hours, I should probably take you both to the meeting.”

Max’s brows furrowed as she stepped around me to get a better look at him. “What meeting?”

Levi gave her a lazy half-grin, his eyes once again locked on hers like she was all he saw.

I didn’t blame him, but it still fucking infuriated me.

I’d never hated-hated Levi, beyond my own jealousies and baggage about my mom. I was emotionally aware enough to understand that my dislike wasn’t personal—he’d had about as much say in our familial circumstances as I’d had.

But then he went and set his sights on Max, and that dislike shaped into something sharper, more solid.

Then again, that was just a different kind of jealousy. One that resonated deeper.

“It’s about time you and your team are let in on what we know.” He shrugged. “Part of it, anyway.”

A familiar spark of excitement lit her face and my stomach flipped at the smile she gave him.

But then she turned that smile on me, and any petty jealousies slipped away. Even with his flirtations and attempts to garner her attention, Max had never once looked at Levi the way she looked at me.

When she looked at me like that, I couldn’t move, could hardly breathe.

It was equal parts intoxicating and terrifying.

I used to be suave, have game.

Now, I was a puddle of goo in the palms of a girl.

What the fuck had become of me?

“Let’s get the others before we go.” Her smile dimmed slightly. “Do you think we’ll be able to convince Atlas to leave his room?”

My stomach tightened for an entirely different reason, one much less pleasant. “We can try.”

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