Page 87 of Twisted Legacy

“I do.”

“So you’re upset? Is that why you’re still awake? Because you think one of them will come in and touch you again?”

His jaw ticks, his hands clenched at his side. Wait, is he mad? At them? This is hilarious, and I’d love to see him go after his friends, but I’m not a manipulative bitch. “What? No. I… I don’t remember all the details yet, but I believe Coach Wolfe when he said they didn’t hurt me. Finn and Pax helped me.”

“Coach made you comply.”

“He did.”

“You didn’t want it?”

“No. I don’t think so. Not at first.”

“Eventually?”

I inspect my knife, and shrug.. “Maybe a little. Wolfe says I had a good time. I had to have wanted a part of it in order for that to happen.”

“But not me. You asked Coach to finish you, and didn’t ask them to call me.”

My eyebrows pop to the top of my forehead. Am I getting this right? Am I actually hearing this correctly? I’m tripping. It’s the drugs. Ithasto be the drugs, because there’s no way he’s saying what I think he’s saying.

“Uh, Holden, are you here because you’re jealous, and not because you’re concerned that someone’s drugging legacies or because your friends took advantage of me?”

He thinks about the answer. I know nothing about this guy, but I get the impression that dealing with women is new to him. So, I just let him work it out for himself. It doesn’t take long. “Yes. I’m jealous andmad. I want to choke you out for putting yourself in danger.”

Shit,wasn’t expecting that much truth and self reflection. He sounds like Wolfe. “How the fuck are you mad at me? I didn’tknowI put myself in danger. I was drugged.”

“That’s why I take my own food to the cafeteria, and don’t take drinks from people at parties.”

“Didn’t you just see the scab from the pin prick? Didn’t you just finish telling me I’m a target because of that shit ya’ll pulled before Mayhem Night and that it’s gonna keep happening until I say the magic words?”

He looks towards the window and grumbles, “I don’t let people touch me.”

“Usually, I don’t either.”

“I’m going to touch your throat now, Thea.” He says, changing topics again.

The way his brain shifts around is fascinating. To the average person, it may seem like he’s just going off on a tangent, but I’m beginning to understand that this is actually a linear conversation. “Why?”

“Because you didn’t see a doctor and I want to be helpful, too.”

My heart stutters as he comes back over to the bed. His hand darts out, closing around my neck, then squeezes. Just a little pressure as he hovers over me. Looking up at him, I say, “I’m okay, Holden.”

He looks down at his watch, and I wait for him to finish taking my pulse. Counting my heartbeats. My breath. When he’s satisfied that I’m not actually freaking out about anything that happened last night, or on the verge of a medical emergency, he says, “Go to sleep. I’ll keep a lookout for you for the rest of the night.”

He sits with his back against my bedroom door, like a sentry. Rather than argue, and fight to get him out of my room, I slip back down in bed, and close my eyes even though I know there’s no way I’ll be able to sleep.

Holden is gone when I wake up in the morning. The bottle of water on my nightstand is the only evidence that I didn’t hallucinate his visit.

Chapter50

Holden

Finn huffs again as he paces around the bunker. He’s been doing that since he got here. I’m trying to ignore him, but the constant movement and sound is distracting. “Why are you so restless?”

“Why are we here? Everyone’s gone. There are no challenges to do. So what gives?”

“What gives is I need to run a software update, and you need to do inventory on the stuff we have.”

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