Page 12 of Covenant

When the door chimes and opens, I step out into a white hallway with dim lighting. My head moves left and then right, trying to decide which way to go.

Room 213.

I pick a side and move down the hallway, my heart racing in my chest as I put one foot in front of the other. I can hear it in my ears, can feel the coffee I drank before leaving the apartment moving through my veins—a luxury I haven’t allowed myself in months, but I needed it today. Every step I take is haunted by a new thought.

What if they make me go somewhere far away?

What will happen to Jackson?

Who will care for him?

These are questions that should’ve occurred to me before. Before I stepped into that graveyard and changed my whole life.

It’s too late now.

Thanks to the caffeine and the anxiety, I’m visibly shaking by the time I step inside the office.

And when I do, everything fades to gray, a hazy, unreal thing.

Because there he is. The last man I expected to see today. The one I’ve tried so hard to forget over the years.

Matthias.

He’s sitting in a chair in the waiting room, one leg crossed over the other, his suit perfectly pressed, not a hair out of place. It takes a second for my brain to catch up. To realize why he’d be here, of all places.Fuck. He looks good for a man who is most likely here because of The Firm. He’s involved in this, somehow.

The gray of my vision starts to go red around the edges and my fingers flex into fists.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I hiss, and Matthias’s dark gaze meets mine. If he’s surprised to see me, he doesn’t show it. Then again, he hasn’t fucking shown his feelings in ages. I can’t even remember what he was like all those years ago.

That’s a lie. I wish I couldn’t fucking remember. It might make facing him now a little easier.

Those long lashes that I’m so familiar with, the newer dark circles under his eyes. He’s always looked so intense, like the weight of the world is on his shoulders.

That exhaustion though, that’s new.

Well, when you’re a massive asshole I guess that happens. Must be the guilt of it all.

“Hello, Wy,” he says finally, his voice low and rasping.

His voice jars me. It’s been so long since I’ve heard it. That must be why. “Tell me why you’re here.”

I can’t breathe as anxiety pulses through me.

He’s part of this. He has something to do with my debt, what I owe The Firm.

Of all people, why did it have to behim?

His long fingers slide down his pressed jacket, straightening his tie, and he cocks his head. “It seems we’re here for the same reason.”

My eyes close and I inhale deeply, so deeply, in fact, that my nose whistles loudly. I’m sure I hear Matthias smother a laugh.

Damnit.

“Mr. Malone and Mr. Buckingham,” a deep voice says, causing me to open my eyes and turn to look at a stout man with a balding head. His suit is ill-fitting but still looks expensive. Is he part of The Firm? He must be if he’s here.

“I assume that’s who you both are as I didn’t get a response. Follow me.”

Matthias stands and moves past me, his shoulder brushing my arm and I shiver slightly from the touch. Not because I’m attracted to him—I’m straight—but because something about him gives me a visceral reaction. I can feel his presence stirring up shit in my life and it makes me feel something akin to anger.

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