Page 53 of Sweetheart: Part One

“I want an update,” he said. I shook at the voice of the man I’d been trying to pretend didn’t exist—and didn’t live in a little pocket of my mind. “You’ve said nothing. Why does it feel like you’re hiding from me, Vex?”

“I… I’m not… You said you wouldn’t interfere,” I pleaded. We wanted the same thing. I’d begged him to let me do this myself.

“That was before you failed,” he said.

“I h-haven’t. There’s two more days.”

“Do any of them want you around?”

Fuck.

Fuck.

I couldn’t lie to him, his command sharp claws in my mind.

“D-Drake does.”

“Drake?”

“Yes, he’s in my room right now.”

“Then where’s his signature?”

“You know it’s not that simple. It’s a big commitment—”

“I know, but isn’t that what you’ve been working on all this time?”

“I’m making progress…” My throat locked up as I scrambled for a way to frame this so it didn’t sound so bad. “Ebony and Love, they’re difficult, but Iswear—”

“Forget the brothers,” he snorted. “What about Rook? He’s supposed to be the playboy? What does he think of you?”

The direct question was impossible to avoid. “He…” I tried to fight the command for truth. Pain ripped through my blood, and I clamped a hand over my mouth. It was only a hint of that mind numbing agony, a thousand knives on my skin, payment for resisting his commands.

“Tell me.”

“H-he hates me,” I choked, feeling the pain ebb away.

“Hewhat?”

My lip trembled, knowing the question that was coming, knowing I’d have to answer it.

“What did youdo?”

My breath caught, tears tumbling down my face. “He…” I tried to fight it, but a fragment of that agony lit again for defying his orders.

“Tell. Me!” I could hear him losing his patience, his command more forceful this time.

“He came into my room and I told him to leave. When he didn’t I… I threatened him.”

There was a long, long silence, and I felt a flare of his fury through the bond. “Why thefuckdid you do that?”

“He was arrogant… I was… afraid.” I cringed at the confession. It sounded like such a weak reason now, when matching Alastor.

Again, there was a long silence. “You told me,” he hissed, “that I could trust you wanted the same thing we do—”

“I do.”

“You threatened him when he was interested in you? Might he have signed you in?”

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