Page 126 of The Obedient Lie
I couldn’t even bring myself to lie to him.
I stood there frozen, fists clenched at my sides, skin burning.
Not from shame. Not from guilt.
From rage.
White-hot and unrelenting.
Rage that I could taste every time I thought of Kingston’s smug fucking laugh echoing through the dorm.
Cameron’s goddamn cologne still lingering in the hallway.
They got to be around her.
Laugh with her.
Sit next to her on the couch while we watched her pull away fromus.
My stomach turned.
Bastion looked up finally. “You’ve seen it too, right?”
I didn’t answer.
I didn’t have to.
“She won’t meet my eyes,” he said. “Won’t let me near her. Always out of the room when I wake up—alwaysgone.”
I swallowed hard, jaw flexing.
He kept going. “I tried to ask her what I did—whatwedid. She just smiled. Said she was busy.”
That word.Busy.
I’d heard it earlier too.
Her voice still soft from the shower, her towel riding low…
I wanted to tear my own fucking skin off.
“I can’t fix this if I don’t know what we broke,” Bastion rasped. “Ican’t—” He broke off, fists pounding his knees.
That’s when I snapped.
“Maybe it wasn’t us.”
He blinked.
“Maybe it’s them,” I hissed. “Maybe it’s the way they look at her like she’s up for grabs. Like we didn’tfucking mark herfirst.”
Bastion didn’t move.
“They circle her like vultures,” I growled. “Laugh too hardat her jokes. Find excuses to walk her to class. You think I don’t see it?”
He finally looked at me.
“Isee it,” I said, breathing hard. “Every goddamn day.”
