Page 30 of Twisted Legacy

After talking to my father, I realize I owe her an apology. I can’t keep putting it off, either. Saying sorry is the first step in implementing the plan the guys and I came up with a to gain her trust. I say gain, because I’m not so sure I ever really had it to begin with.

I enter the lobby of Vale Tower, slowing my steps when Thea walks out of the store carrying a bunch of bags. The handles are draped over the wrist of her left hand, and she’s leaning a little to the side. A sling and an ace bandage are on her right arm. She didn’t have those in class the other day. My eyes snap to her face. My stomach churns. She’s not wearing concealer either, giving me a better look at her bruises.

“Who did this to you?”

Her eyes widen, then narrow when she sees me. She steps away when I reach for the bags. “Don’t touch me.”

“I’m trying to help.”

“I don’t need your help. I don’t need anything from you.”

“Pet, you’re obviously hurt worse than you’re letting on. You can’t carry those bags by yourself.”

“Ican,and I will. And even if I couldn’t, I’d rather struggle than to let you anywhere near me.”

I follow as she shuffles to the elevator. As first interactions go, we’re off to a horrible start. Nothing about her body language suggests she wants to talk to me. Once I put the car in private mode, she’ll have no choice but to listen. I glare at the people trying to get on the elevator with us. They get the hint, and back away to wait for it to come back down. Thea’s back is against the wall. The bags hang in front of her like an extra layer of protection.

“Pet, I know-”

“Don’t fucking call me that.”

We’re back to her rejecting my name for her? This is like starting from scratch. “Fine,Thea.I want to clear the air about what happened the night you came to my room. People are always coming up to us because of who we are and what we represent, so it’s hard to know who to trust. I thought we were friends. So you have to understand how I felt when I found your birth certificate and found out you’d been lying the whole time.”

“I don’t have to understand a goddamn thing. Whatever you felt when you dragged that document out of obscurity has nothing to do with me. It’s your own fault for digging your nose into something that was none of your fucking business.”

She’s got a point. Isn’t the caveat to be careful when you go searching for stuff because you might find it? “I get it. You feel violated, and I’m sorry for that, but there’s an upside to this.”

Her hair brushes her left shoulder as she tilts her head. “You’re sorry? For which part? Shoving me out of your room with my pants down, for you and your friends hacking my bank account and draining it dry? Or is it the part where you had somebody change my grades which put me on academic probation?”

I can’t refute any of that. We’re responsible for all of it, and some other things she’s not aware of yet. That reminds me to tell Holden to cancel those plans.

“So you can swallow your sorry, asshole, and choke on it.”

The pain register on her face from her trying to wave her right arm. I ask her again, “What happened?”

The elevator dings and the doors slide open. Readjusting her bags, she steps into the hall. “That would be another thing that’s none of your fucking business.”

She drags herself down the hall to her door, then drops her bags on the ground as she fumbles around for her key fob. My anger rushes to the surface as I watch her drag the bags in one at a time.

She didn’t answer my question. That part pisses me off more than her refusal to accept my apology.

Chapter19

Holden

Thea’s back. Her medical records aren’t on the infirmary’s server yet, but going by the bruising on her face, she was beaten to a pulp. I can feel my control slipping a tiny bit more every time I look at her. It’s more than the bruising on her face. It’s the vacant look in her eyes. The way she’s staring through people. Staring through me.

After years of being ignored, I’d finally met a woman who looked at me, even when Finn and Pax weren’t around. She teased me the same way she teased Finn and gave me an idiotic nickname. I never acknowledged it, but I liked her calling me Pretty Boy. I know I’m attractive, but nobody feels comfortable enough to say it around me. They’re all too afraid of my reaction. So hearing her uncensored thoughts was scary, exciting,liberating.

I thought it would be safe to open up to her. At night I was open. As open as I could be, even if she wasn’t aware of it. The hours in her bed, I felt a burden lift. I could talk and not be judged.

Finn and Pax don’t judge me, but they’re my brothers. My best friends. It was different to bare my soul to someone else. To share my thoughts with a woman wrapped in my arms at night. I felt comfortable. Calm. I was even getting more than a few hours of sleep. To go back to the way it was before… that feels untenable.

Me and the guys are pretending things are normal. That’s all we can do until we sit Thea down and explain how her life is about to change. So this morning, we’re in our usual spot, watching the lingerie show. I wasn’t interested in it before; and I don’t pretend to be now. I’m here because that’s what’s expected of me. I’m trying and failing to concentrate enough to read my book. My attention keeps going to the elevator. I’m waiting for it to come down from our floor just so I can get a glimpse of her.

I don’t have to wait long. My lungs inflate when the doors open and Thea steps into the lobby. Her hair is in a fishtail braid thrown over her shoulder, she’s wearing black ripped jeans, and her favorite jacket and boots. This is the way she dressed when she first came to school. It’s her armor. Her eyes scan the room with malice. A warning not to get too close. Her back stiffens when she sees us, but that’s it. Her usual snark is missing. If anything, there’s a moment of fear in her eyes. I feel the tension radiating off of her, as if we’re all threats, and she’s prepared for an attack.

She rushes out of the building and I force myself to remain in my seat, gripping the arm of my chair to keep from chasing her down and demanding answers. Starting with who helped her hide her identity all these years and ending with who hurt her.

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