Page 83 of Firestorm
Rafe sighed dramatically likeIwas ruininghisday. “What were you doing in the Gulf, Wyatt?”
I gulped. Rafe glared.
“I was visiting someone.” I muttered.
“Someone? Someone tall, brunette and annoying as hell, by any chance?” Rafe asked, his expression darkening.
I winced and ran my hand through my hair. I didn’t want to admit out loud that I’d folded and visited Carissa again. I was embarrassed I’d even gone to see her, and even more embarrassed that I’d met Skye while there.
Things were extra awkward now that we’d returned for a new term and Carissa worked just two offices down from me, making a point to strut by my doorway any time it was open. Hence why I now kept it closed. She still liked to pause and stretch in front of the fogged window, though, like she imagined I was watching from inside and panting after her silhouette.
Rafe took mercy on me, moving the subject away from my weak will and back to Skye. “So how did you get to the dry-humping part?”
I clenched my jaw and looked away. “When she…” I sighed and scrubbed a hand over my face again. “I saw her, and…I don’t know. I just lost control.”
Rafe finally leaned away from the desk. He stumbled backward,landing on the couch Skye had just been sitting on, and even in the darkness I could see his eyes were wide.
It was impossible to know what Rafe was thinking at any given moment. The man was a complete mystery.
“You’ve kissed her before,” he said, no question in his tone.
“Yes.” I gritted out. No sense lying.
“Does this have anything to do with her Link-testing being fucked?” he asked.
“How the fuck do you know that?” I demanded, anger washing through me again. After our trip to the testing center a few weeks back, I’d told him to stop going through the shit in my office. Had he been in here again? “Are you trying to get me fucking fired?”
“Is that why?” Rafe asked quietly. “Is that why you fucked the results? Because of your job…or because you’re one of her Links?”
I dropped my head to my desk, resisting the urge to moan. Of course Rafe deduced I’d messed with the results.
“Craig. Answer me.” Rafe demanded.
“She’s my Key,” I admitted. “I fumbled the results before I saw any of the other Links. I panicked. I’m worried about my job. Worried about my mom. Just fucking worried.”
Rafe exhaled slowly before throwing his head to the back of the couch and staring up into the ceiling.
“Why didn’t you come to me about that?” he asked quietly.
“I didn’t think you needed to know I ran from a girl after kissing her–” I snarked and he cut me off.
“Notthat. I mean about your worry. Your job. Your mom. I’m yourfriend, Wyatt.” Rafe looked genuinely pained, and I gulped, my eyes suddenly stinging.
“I’m sorry,” I rasped.
Rafe squeezed his eyes shut, breathing out slowly before opening them again and looking right at me.
“What’s stopping her from retesting?” he asked. “Did you even think that through?”
“She’s never going to retest,” I replied.
“How do you know? Shejustasked.” Rafe said, gesturing toward the door.
I sighed deeply, rubbing the tattoo on my wrist that my sister and I shared. “Skye is terrified of needles. She told me so the first time we met.” I paused, remembering how she flushed at her word choice, the blush staining her cheeks making her glow like a cherub. “We’re lucky she did the Link-testing even once. She has to be positive I’m in the Chain at this point. I’m sure my reaction has scared her in such a way that she won’t bother testing a second time.”
Besides…Skye was hiding something. Not that I would ever share that information with a maniac like Rafe. Though, if I knew my friend at all…and I did…he’d already been looking for something about her and had hit a wall.
Then I froze, exhaling slowly though Rafe was already staring at me knowingly.
