Page 26 of Atone

Every movement is met with restraint. With the thin tether that snapped in an instant. I’m no longer staring at Alex Lancaster; I’m looking into the reflection of Sigma Sin. Cold eyes that are frighteningly deadly.

“Get over here now.” One nurse directs another as they come to either side of Alex. “Alex, let him go. We’ve got him.”

The two nurses slowly circle them.

The red-haired nurse has her hands up, and I can’t tell who she seems more worried about as her gaze drifts between the two men.

Another two nurses run over, and there’s a circle of tension ready to snap as a breeze whisps through the courtyard. The honeyed scent of spring teases my senses.

A larger male nurse and a woman grab either side of the man Alex is holding, and only once they have him secured does Alex let him go and take a step back.

I wait for them to move toward Alex next, but they don’t. No matter how pale their cheeks are when they look at the bloody pencil in his hand.

“Sorry about that,” the nurse says—to me or to Alex; I can’t tell. “Ricci has only recently been allowed to mingle with the others. He still struggles with personal boundaries. He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

She turns, and I realize she was talking to me.

“Hurt me?” My eyebrows scrunch as I process her question. “No, he didn’t.”

He didn’t get the chance.

That’s why Alex must have jumped up from his seat. He saw Ricci closing in behind me, and he stopped him. He saw what that man was going to do, and he didn’t hesitate. Regardless of who was around or what danger it put him in.

Alex protected me.

“Good.” She forces a smile, hesitantly facing Alex. “I’m sorry for the trouble. We’ll take care of him. I hope you’ll share our regrets with your parents, Mr. Lancaster.”

She offers a final nod, walking away with another nurse. They whisper something to each other, glancing back at me over their shoulder.

The Lancasters can’t be that influential, can they? Alex was the one who held a weapon to another patient’s throat, but they didn’t do anything about it except apologize to him.

My attention slides back to Alex as he reclaims his seat. He picks up his journal and goes back to writing like nothing happened. The only hint that I didn’t imagine the entire thing is the blood mixing with lead as he scribbles another sentence.

8

JUST FOR HER

ALEX

The forestthat surrounds Montgomery sings in the middle of the night. Crickets chirp. Animals seek out their prey. I stroll through the courtyard in nothing but darkness, and moonlight reflects off the dew from this afternoon’s rain.

Declan is right on time, as usual. He sweeps like a phantom through the gate at the side of the building. His fingers drag his black hair off his forehead, and his cold blue eyes are clear and icy as he stalks toward me.

Visiting hours ended a while ago, which is why he waited until now to show his face. Some things are better dealt with when there aren’t eyes to account for your actions. Things better left in the shadows.

I shoot my hand out the second he stops, handing him a flash drive.

“Right to the point?” He snags it from my grip. “No hello, how are you, what’s new? And here I thought we were friends, Alex.”

His dark grin widens as he meets my gaze, and he chuckles when I offer him nothing in return.

It’s not like he expects me to actually respond. No one does, and that’s for the best.

Declan is one of the few people I bother interacting with at all, and that’s more out of loyalty to him and Kole at this point than friendship. We might have grown up together, wreaked havoc together, and pledged Sigma House together, but I’m not that person anymore.

“Did you find everything I asked for?” Declan asks, pocketing the thumb drive.

I nod, knowing I just handed him the key to dismantling the Sigma House Council.

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