Page 48 of Wrath
Keeping watch. Got it.
Lowering her legs, she rolled to her stomach and propped her chin on her hand. Framed by the blue moonlight, his tall muscular silhouette wasn’t so scary. Maybe not alien after all.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
His gaze snapped to hers, dark brows drawing together.
“For everything. For Dimitri. From the fire stopping you from leaving the other day. I guess you wanted something simple when you took the job at the Palace, but instead, you got our mess.”
Wyatt shook his head and then rotated his fist around his chest in a clockwise motion.
I’m sorry,he signed, and then tapped himself for effect.It’s my fault. They’re after me.
“Dimitri has been harassing me since we were kids, so unless you’ve known him longer, I’d say I win.”
It’s not a game.
Misha sighed and shifted to her back, staring at the blank white ceiling. She should put some star stickers up there. She’d rather be looking at the sky.
“Do you think we’re safe?” When silence answered her, she looked at him. “He has an army, Wyatt. How can we beat that?”
I have the Deadly Seven.
She laughed. “I’m sorry, I must have mixed up your words. It sounded like you said you have the Deadly Seven.”
His cold stare was her answer.
Sitting upright like a catapult, Misha pulled a cushion to her chest and hugged. That would make so much sense. “Are you serious?”
He nodded gravely and showed her his wrist tattoo.
“I don’t know what that means.”
His eyes flashed with frustration and he hit the doorframe, making the earth move beneath them.
“Whoa. Chill, Bill.” She scrambled to her desk. Opening a drawer, she pulled out a notebook and pen. “Here. Writing it down always makes me feel better. We can even burn it later if you prefer. I did that once when I found a college boyfriend cheated on me. Wrote all these nasty, untrue things, but it made me feel better and then I burned it. It’s very cathartic.”
Stubbornly, he leaned against the doorjamb for a few more minutes before easing into the office where he sat cross-legged on the mat next to her. His long legs barely fit in the small space, but he made it work. Squinting at the page in the dark, he pulled his phone out to turn on the light.
“Wait.” Misha hopped up and went to another drawer. “I have a better idea.”
Collecting some candles she had in storage, she set them on her desk and lit them. Soft light bloomed, casting his features into chiseled relief. Yeah, he was a babe. She couldn’t deny it. Another night with him would be incredible. But while she was waxing poetic about his handsomeness, he was scowling at the light the candles made.
Misha kicked the office door so it shut half-way. “I think we’re out of the way enough that it can’t be seen from the street. Plus, it really is like we’re camping now. Much better.”
When Misha settled next to him, his expression filled with judgment.
“Don’t look at me like that.” Misha folded her arms, scowling. “I know we’ve just gone through something pretty serious, but I’m not irreverent. I’m not dumb, and I’m not facetious. I just prefer to take my joys where I can get them, no matter how small they might be. If anything, a night like tonight just proved that. We can’t spend our short lives wallowing in misery or fear.”
The moment she said the words, she regretted them. They’d come out harsher than intended and, to be honest, she knew the lecture was aimed at herself, because deep down, shewasall those things.
He paled at her proximity, and she shimmied back to give him space. It must have been what he needed because he dipped his head, staring at the blank paper for long minutes. Then he began to write. He filled a page with his words, and a second page, and a third. Anticipation and curiosity licked up her bones. When he was done, he stood and gruffly handed her the notebook, then walked out of the office and went to stand near the entrance.
He’d put an entire studio’s worth of distance between them.
“Okay, then,” she whispered, almost too afraid to read his words.
Knowing he trusted her with his innermost thoughts, she sat down, got comfortable, and read.
