Page 96 of As the World Falls

I grin at her professional use of my name, leaning back into my seat. “The pleasure is all mine,” I say darkly. She quickly averted her gaze, and I realized that she was trying to put on an act tonight. One that apparently meant giving me more of the cold shoulder, but that was fine. It wouldn’t last long once Tobias and I made our proposal.

She slides into the booth next to Tobias and keeps her gaze directed at the table beneath her. She only looks at Tobias when she decides to glance elsewhere. “So fancy,” she mentions again, folding her napkin onto her lap.

The waiter comes by, and I watch her as she stares at her brother, who has entered into a conversation with the waiter about their specials and what wine would pair best with them. She looked perplexed, watching him speak, and it made me wonder more about their relationship before he changed and became a better man. She always seemed so at odds with him whenever they were together.

“I thought you didn’t have your ears pierced?” I ask her, observing the glitzy earrings hanging from her lobes.

Her gaze flicks to mine for only a second before looking away, and she holds her glass of water to her mouth as if to distract herself with something. “My friends convinced me to pierce them.”

“What friends?” Tobias interjects.

“Ambrose and Marlin from my book club. They’ve been really great since… well…you know,” she answers sadly.

“Oh,” Tobias says shortly. “That’s nice of them.”

“You said you didn’t like jewelry?” I ask curiously.

She folds her napkin for a second time on her lap. “Things change.”

“Indeed, they do,” I mutter as I lean in, careful to keep my voice low, as Tobias continues to talk to the waiter. “Mine would look immaculate touching your skin.” I rest back in my seat, smirking as she fights to keep her now flushed gaze from mine.

Tobias looks down at her from his conversation with the waiter. “Are you doing one of the specials as well?”

“What specials?” she asks, looking over to him.

He laughs awkwardly. “The ones I just had the waiter tell us.”

“Oh…right…those specials.” She tightened her lips together as if trying to remember, and I couldn’t help but chuckle because it was apparent she hadn’t heard a single thing the waiter had said. I didn’t either, to be fair, but I think I was the only one willing to admit between me and her that she was the reason I didn’t hear a single damn thing. “I’ll have whatever you’re having,” she says to Tobias.

“I’ll have the same,” I added, handing the waiter back my menu. The waiter nodded and finally left the table. I glanced over at Tobias, who shot me an unsure glare.

“So, how have things been?” Tobias begins, looking at Cecilia with an overly nice smile.

She raises one eyebrow at him, skeptical of his sudden sweetness. “They’ve been alright…considering.”

“How is work?” I ask. “I’m sure it’s dreadfully boring compared to being at Labyrinth headquarters.”

She looks into her water glass again as she speaks to me. “It’s actually been great. I’ve been meeting weekly with my new book club, and that’s been helping me a lot. We also recently signed a contract with the local preschool, so it will be fun to bring some books to the children.”

“Sounds great. I’m happy for you,” Tobias says. She smiles back at him, full of pure love and adoration, and once again, Ifind myself entranced by their dynamic and feeling wholly on the outside of it at the same time. I cared deeply for both of them, except one was in secret, and it made me feel like a third wheel, and I found myself not caring for that feeling at all. I never had much of a family besides Stefano and his father, who is passed on now, but even then, it was nothing affectionate or warm. It was loyal, but with Tobias and Cecilia, I was beginning to crave that warmth from both of them. I looked at Tobias like more than a friend, possibly a brother, and I was starting to look at Cecilia with an intense, heart-aching obsession. It made me want to tangle myself up in the dynamic between them if only to be considered as important to them as they are to each other.

For the first time, I think I found two people I’d want…or choose to call family.

Our food arrives pretty quickly, and it’s obvious Tobias is nervous. He hardly touched his food, and I found it quite amusing how nervous he gets around his sister. For all his hard talk and being the older sibling, it seems as though Cecilia holds most of the power in her hands.

“Okay,” Cecilia snaps out, dropping her fork with a rather loud clink onto her plate. She stares daggers at Tobias. “What is going on? You’ve barely touched your food, and you,” she grounds out, turning her sharp stare to me as I point at myself with an amused expression. “You keep watching Tobias like he’s a ticking time bomb. What is it?”

“Let me,” I say to Tobias just before he speaks and ends up rambling to death. “Do you recall the night Hodge kidnapped you?”

Cecilia’s nervous gaze slowly drags from me to Tobias. “What… no… what are you talking?—”

“Jiggs up, Lia. I know everything,” Tobias tells her. “By the way, we’ll be discussing that later.

“You told him?” she shouts at me. “I thought we were keeping that a secret.”

“Don’t worry, little owl, we have others.” I couldn’t help myself even though my words now had Tobias glaring at me.

“What secrets? And why the hell are you calling her little owl?”

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