Page 44 of Whispers of the Water

Before she or I could make any move, though, the French doors opened again. Rune’s large body filled the space, and my heart fractured a little more. I wasn’t ready to see him yet. His eyes widened in surprise when he noticed me, but he quickly turned his attention to Aidan’s visitor.

“Yasmine,” Rune said. “What are you doing here?”

Yasmine turned her ruthless glare on Rune and crossed her arms. “Consoling your mate.”

“Aidan’s not my mate, Yasmine.”

“Right, right. This complete outsider is.” Yasmine turned her scowl back on me. She glanced out toward the woods where I’d been, then back at me. Her voice dropped dangerously low as she said, “Something’s not right about you. I don’t know what it is yet, but I’m going to find out.”

Yasmine spared one final moment to glare at Rune before making her way across the yard for the front of the house. With her absence, the silence between Rune and me became deafening, and I looked away from him. It was past one in the morning, so he no doubt wondered what the hell I was doing out here on my own. It had to be pretty weird to find your pretend girlfriend wandering around your property when everyone was supposed to be asleep. Even worse, I couldn’t bring myself to say what I’d overheard in the hall earlier. The confession sat poised on my tongue but refused to break past my trembling lips.

“Are you okay?”

I nearly leapt out of my skin at the sound of Rune’s voice. Heart dancing wildly in my chest, I found his eyes watching me carefully. I searched his gaze, which was turned down ever so slightly at the edges. I looked for any sign that gave away what he’d been up to, but all I saw was worry etched into his mouth and forehead. What was the root of that pain? Was it my being challenged by Yasmine? Was it fear that I’d somehow know what he’d done? Or was it still the guilt he’d been harboring since the bathroom incident? I had a suspicion it was probably all of it, but the lingering self-loathing was still definitely present in his eyes.

“I’m great,” I answered, forcing a smile.

He glanced around at the dark yard. “Should I be concerned as to why you’re wandering around outside at 1 a.m.?”

“Nope. I was out for a walk. Getting some fresh air. What are you still doing up?”

I loved torturing myself, apparently. Knowing what he was doing clearly wasn’t enough. I wanted him to say it, too. Rub some salt in the open, bleeding wound.

He shrugged and stepped out of the doorway to the house. He held the door open and gestured for me to go in first. I did, trying not to pay any mind to the slight brush of my shoulder against his chest as I walked past. The warm graze of contact made me want to shatter all over again.

“I couldn’t sleep,” he answered, following close behind me through the darkened halls.

“Oh, I’m sure you couldn’t,” I said and cringed at how harshly those words came out. The hurt, anger, and betrayal I’d been feeling poured out with each word. I sucked in a sharp breath as tears threatened to spill over again.

“What?” Rune asked as he fell in step beside me, and the confusion in his voice made me see red. How fucking dare he act like he didn’t know what he’d done?

I couldn’t even look him in the eye. I kept my gaze trained dead ahead and picked up my pace, heading straight for my room where I planned to lock myself in and shut the world out.

“Bria,” Rune called as I barreled up the steps leading to the third floor.

I refused to look left where Aidan and Rune had been before. Instead, I darted into my room, and my stomach pitched forward when I realized Rune was right on my heels.

As soon as we stepped inside, Rune shut the door behind him. His voice sounded perplexed as he asked, “Bria, what’s wrong? What did you mean by—”

“I saw you, Rune,” I snapped as I whipped around to face him. “I was in the hall when you and Aidan …”

I couldn’t even bring myself to say the words, but I didn’t need to. Realization flickered across his eyes, followed by a heavy dose of alarm. For some reason, seeing his shock made me want to bury my head in the sand to hide my shame. Quickly wanting to fill the awful silence, I rambled, “Which I know I have no reason to get upset about. I mean, you’re single. You’re allowed to do whatever you want. We’re not actually together, so—”

Rune stepped toward me with wide eyes. “Wait, do you think that she and I …?”

“I don’t think, Rune. I know. I heard you ask her to have sex.”

He shook his head slowly. “That’s not what I said. I asked her if she wanted to have sex, not if she wanted to go have sex with me.”

Annoyed, I furrowed my brow at him and crossed my arms. “I’m sorry. I don’t see what the difference is.”

“So, I take it you didn’t hear what I said after that, either?”

“No. I’m afraid after hearing the guy I’m into ask another girl to have sex with him, I made my swift exit. I didn’t really want to stick around to hear more.”

His jaw worked as he slowly said, “I asked her if she wanted to have sex in a general sense. When she said yes, like I knew she would, I told her if she wanted to have sex, she could go hit up Ardley, because he’s always down to have sex. Then she got mad and clearly called Yasmine over to gripe about how I’d turned her down. Again.”

The air moving through my lungs stilled, and all thoughts vanished from my head until I was left staring at Rune like a deer in the headlights. “You … You didn’t …?”

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