Page 84 of Wild Fury (Fallen Royals 6)

24

Theo

My head must be muddled from that hit, because Lux parks in front of my apartment and I don’t get out. She tries to turn off the engine, and I stop her with my hand on her arm.

“Just take it,” I find myself saying. My brain feels rattled, an echo of Sebastian’s foot connecting with my helmet.

It wasn’t even that bad.

The bad part was the subsequent pile of bodies on top of us, both teams vying for the ball. The truly awful part was when I snapped Sebastian’s leg myself. Grabbed his ankle and leveraged it against my body, pulling it until the crack of bone and cartilage in his knee was audible. And then his scream.

But there was chaos, too many bodies. All the crowd would’ve seen was his shoe hitting my helmet, our fall. The pile. And I… I was just a victim of my own making.

Hale almost caught on. He would’ve been on the sidelines, watching his friend like a hawk. They rarely share a field together—just the nature of their positions. But he can’t deny the bottle found in Sebastian’s bag. The collection of needles.

I’ve been dosing Sebastian for three days.

“Are you okay?” she asks.

I’d forgotten she’s still beside me.

“You shouldn’t be alone.” Now she does turn off the engine and unlocks our doors, hopping out before I can protest. She comes around and opens my door, heaving my bag over her shoulder. “Come on. I want to see your place, anyway.”

“It’s just an apartment.” But I slide out, letting her loop my arm back over her shoulder. The sidewalk tilts a bit—and yeah, I probably shouldn’t be alone with a concussion.

Lucy is small under my arm. I’m more conscious of our different heights, more worried about crushing her. I want to go back to the Theo who hated her on sight…

But maybe he never existed.

She fiddles with the keys and finds the correct one surprisingly fast. Then we’re in the elevator. At my door. She unlocks that easily, too, and pushes it open.

“Come on.” She grunts and yanks me forward, into the apartment.

I look around with new eyes, trying to see how she might view it. Dark-brown leather couch in an L shape, a wooden coffee table, cream-and-orange rug. The kitchen off to the side, then the door to my bedroom and bathroom opposite it.

It’s clean, at least.

“Not what I was expecting,” Lux mutters. She leaves me by the door and circles the apartment, even separating the blinds with her fingers to peer outside. “It’s… warm.”

I shrug. My mother had a lot to do with the design. She enjoyed picking out furniture—I only required a couch big enough for my friends, if they chose to visit. The rest of it was just a blur of shopping, movers, and a lot of pictures texted to me.

A pang rattles through me. Of all the people I left behind in Rose Hill, Mom’s the only one I miss. The only good thing left.

I cross to the kitchen and grab two glasses, pouring water for myself and my new supervisor. She eyes me from her position by the window, even when I carry the glasses over and set them on the coffee table.

She doesn’t move when I sit, resting my head back, and turn on the television. An old NFL game I had recorded is paused on the screen, so I automatically hit play.

“I thought you preferred lacrosse,” she says suddenly.

I sigh. “I do.”

“Then why football?”

So many reasons. “It pays more.”

She ventures closer, and I find myself wishing she would stop being so fidgety and just sit. I close my eyes and try to block her out.

“Theo?”

---