Page 105 of Nikolai (Kansas City Reapers)

“You think I put you in that danger? I saved your life. Itriedto save your life. If you hadn’t…” I trailed off, huffing angrily as I ran my hand through my hair, stomping up and down the length of my room like I meant to wear through the floor.

“If I hadn’t what? Why be shy now, Niko? Say what you want to say,” she tossed back, her eyes shooting daggers through me so sharp and piercing that I was certain I’d carry more scars from it than the firefight we’d just somehow walked away from.

“You want me to say it? Do you?” I spat, rage filling me as the reality of what we had both been through eroded my ability to think clearly, breaking through in the most damning and destructive way imaginable.

“Why the hell not?” she scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Fine. What the ever-loving fuck, Maddy? What were you thinking?!” I seethed, my voice echoing around the room as my fists clenched tightly at my sides.

“What do you mean, what wasIthinking?”

“Why didn’t you stay in the fucking car?” I all but screamed at her. My heart was pounding, and I could barely control myself. My anger was hanging on by a thread. I didn’t know if I wanted to pull her to me or shake her so hard she saw stars — and maybe some fucking sense.

She scoffed yet again, rolling those beautiful blue eyes at me.

“What was I thinking?What was I thinking?! Jesus Christ, Niko. I thought you’d been fucking shot when that window got blown out. I thought you were fucking dead!” she screamed, rising from her seat and staring me down, hands on her hips in a blaze of fucking glory.

I had to admit, there was a part of me that was glad to see her shake out of her stupor. Emotion, I could handle. The shell-shocked, timid, unsure ghost of the woman she was, I simply could not.

I couldn’t reach her with kindness earlier, but apparently my anger would work. And I was fine with that.

As long as she was talking, doing anything other than sitting there in silence. That silence was the most deafening sound I’d ever heard.

However, her words were like fuel to the flame of my anger.

“Even if I was dead, why the hell would you risk yourownlife like that?”

We stood there toe to toe, eyes ablaze with anger, rage, and emotions I wasn’t sure either of us understood in the aftermath of all that had happened.

“Oh, don’t play dumb, Niko,” she spat, rolling her eyes.

“No, I’m serious. What the hell has been with you these last two days?” Had it been two days? One day? Three? I honestly didn’t know at this point. Time blurred into indeterminate measurements I could not seem to grasp.

“What the hell has been wrong withme?” she replied incredulously, a look of utter disbelief written on her face.

“Will you stop parroting everything I fucking say and just answer me, goddammit?”

“You want me to talk? Fine. I’ll talk. But you’re going to fucking listen.”

“Fine. But you better answer me one real questionhere: why the fuck don’t you ever listen?” My heart thundered in my chest, my hands gripping my own hips as I mirrored her stance.

“Why do you fucking care?” she shrieked. “You didn’t want me here, anyway.”

Her words stopped me cold in my tracks, my mind searching through the events of the last few days to try to make sense of her words.

“What the hell are you even talking about?”

“I heard you.” Her words were like ice, quiet and eerily calm. “I heard every fucking word.”

“What the hell are you even talking about?”

“You know what I’m talking about.”

“Obviously, I don’t, or I wouldn’t be asking.” We stood even closer, leaning in towards one other.

“I heard you on the phone that morning with Quinn.”

“What?” I stood there, utterly confused by her words. “What did you hear me say, exactly?”

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