Page 11 of Black Bird

“Oh, it’s not for me.” She smirked, looking over at him as she stopped behind two other cars in line. “It’s for you.” He met her stare and drew his brows together.

“Don’t be stupid.”

“Don’t be a fucking liar!” she spat, tossing her take-out box across the space. It exploded, soggy french fries flying everywhere. He reared back and threw his hands into the air.

“What the fuck, Rhaena!”

“My thoughts exactly! I saw you!” She moved the gear into park and turned, leaning her back against the driver’s side window and crossing her arms. “You stole one of those when I went to the break room. Youateit.” Athan’s jaw clenched, and he stared at her. “Since I haven’t seen you violently hurling up your dusty ass guts, I’m feeling pretty confident there’s some shit you’re not telling me, Kane.”

“Not here.” He rolled his window down and threw out bits of her discarded dinner.

“Then where?”

“Home.”

Rhaena pulled out of the drive-thru and neither of them spoke the whole way to their building. They didn’t speak even after Athan unlocked the door to his apartment and let her in, instead going straight for Poe’s cage and letting the bird out to stretch his silky wings. She took up a spot on the leather couch against the wall and crossed a leg over, watching her partner as he blatantly ignored her. Rhaena wasn’t sure how much more forward she’d need to be to get him to open up.

Plan B, then.

She leaned forward, shrugging off her blazer and kicking off her heeled boots. Athan paused, setting his bird on top of the large cage and never turning his body toward her while he glanced over. Rhaena pretended not to see him staring while she unbuttoned her white blouse, her lacy blue bra peeking out from beneath it.

“You know what clears my head?” She purred, raising off the couch and dropping the shirt to the floor. “A good workout.” Her hands moved to the clasp of her tight slacks, unfastening them, and sliding them down her smooth bare thighs. There was barely a scrap of matching blue lace covering her lower half. Athan stared at her as she stepped out of her pants and moved toward him. “Come work me out,partner.”

“Put your clothes back on.” He turned his face forward and braced a hand on the bird cage.

“Stop overthinking it. Take it out on me.” She stepped closer. “Whatever it is.”

Athan lowered his face toward the carpet, gripping the cage harder with his inked fingers and sighing deeply through his nose. “I can’t.”

“Why?”

“Because.I killed that girl. Our vic. She’s all I can think about.” His ice blue eyes raised to meet hers over the leather on his extended arm. Rhaena exhaled. “I can’t fuck you and think about someone else. Put your clothes on.” He pushed off the cage and walked toward the hallway, disappearing behind the wall, and leaving her alone in the middle of the living room. She’d be lying if she said there wasn’t a slight ache in her chest at the dismissal.

Rhaena dressed, opting to leave her boots off and her blazer laying where she’d left it as she padded into the kitchen to pour them both some whiskey. Athan finally returned a few moments later, joining her at the corner of the counter in a white t-shirt and black sweatpants. She handed him a glass of amber liquid.

“What happened?” she asked quietly, not looking at him as she brought her glass to her mouth. He lit a cigarette and blew out a puff of smoke.

“I lost control. Saw her at the bar when I went to talk to Dahlia. I’d already felt it building up before I’d left her office. I thought I could hold out, but then I saw her.” He took a deep swig from his cup. “Something was different this time—I heard voices.”

“Voices?” Rhaena crumpled her brows and looked over at him. He nodded once.

“I left and was planning on heading home, but I didn’t. I felt drawn to her. I ended up hiding out until I saw her leave by herself. I tried to stop myself from going after her but …” He bowed his head, pulling on the cigarette. “I fed on her. She hit that street like a stone, Rhaena. I know she was dead. I checked her pulse.”

“What else?” Rhaena pushed, knowing there was more.

“Her blood changed me. My heart … it’s …”

“It’s what.”

“It started beating. When her heart stopped, mine started beating again and now …”

Rhaena’s brows shot up and she set her glass down on the counter. “Holy shit … are you human?”

“No,” Athan answered quickly, downing his glass and throwing it to the tile floor of the kitchen. It busted, shards scattering across it. He reached down, picking up a large piece and slicing a nasty cut across the top of his forearm. She watched as it slowly began mending, threading itself back together as if it had never been. She wondered for the first time how difficult it must be to tattoo him. “When I came home, I slept. I dreamt about her. I got the tattoo the next night. Dreamt about her then, too. I took her necklace. When I went to question her tonight, she told me that the stone was her mother’s ashes. I swear the thing whispers to me. Even when I’m not near it, I can hear it in my mind.”

“You really thought she was dead?”

“I know she was.”

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