Page 53 of Ramshackle
I chomp my teeth teasingly at him. He grins and snags himself the nearest piece between his teeth, ripping it in two.
Wiping my hands on a napkin, I push my seat back.
All eyes are on me in that instant. Even if I can’t see them all in my field of view, I can feel it. “What?”
“Where do you think you’re going?” Aiden asks, his voice smooth and dangerous. “And the answer better be your room to rest.”
I scoff. “I’ve rested plenty. I thought we were going to the library.”
Dane and Kellan both speak at once.
“The hell you have, beautiful.”
“You’ve only been awake a couple days!”
I check in with Jackson behind me to see if I have at least one person on my side. He lifts his eyebrows when our eyes connect, but he stays silent.
Traitor.
I stand anyway. Kell and Dane jump up while Aiden’s eyes narrow. “I need to show you the islands before I forget where they were. And I can’t stay cooped up in that room anymore.”
“Are we supposed to pretend like we didn’t see you almost collapse when you walked in here?” Dane demands, his finger jabbing at where my knee gave out.
“That wasn’t because I’m tired!”
“Right. It was your knee hurting, though, wasn’t it?” he counters. I snap my mouth closed before admitting anything, but he doesn’t stop. “What did he do to it?!” His fist slams down on the table, and all the dishes jump with a clatter. “What happened?!”
I recoil from his anger. I know it’s not directed at me, but my body reacts involuntarily anyway.
“Don’t yell at her!” Kellan snarls at Dane.
I feel Jackson hovering closer behind me, offering me his strength and support.
“Enough. Both of you,” Aiden orders before Dane has a chance to respond to Kell. His dark gaze pins me beneath his stare, and my breathing suspends itself to wait for what he’ll demand from me.
He’s always been the one to push me for my secrets. The one who doesn’t trust me because I won’t share this part of me. What will he do to find out what happened between Gordon and me this time? Will he lock me up again? Does he think it was some ruse for me to work with Gordon or something horrible like that?
“Dane has a point about your knee. It’s not safe for you to leave the bunker if it’s still in too much pain. We can go in a week after you’ve had more time to rest.”
That’s…not at all what I expected.
It’s also not the answer I’m looking for.
My knee won’t get better with time. It’s permanently damaged, and it was healed wrong, so too much physical activity will always aggravate it. One week won’t make a difference.
But I can’t admit that to them.
“One day,” I argue, hoping he’ll agree to a compromise. I’ll just pretend it’s better tomorrow and work on masking the pain and weakness.
“A week,” Aiden responds, and I frown.
“That’s not how a negotiation works. You have to at least lower yours.”
Aiden’s stoic expression doesn’t budge. “This isn’t a negotiation. One. Week.”
Our eyes lock in a stand-off. I debate leaving on my own before his timeline, but there are two problems with that. One, I swore I would do better at workingwiththem this time around. I can’t hack into the satellite by myself anyway, and Dane will side with Aiden. Two, it might take me the week to learn the layout of the bunker. I have no idea where the exit is, even if I wanted to leave.
I break the staring contest with a huff and plop down. Kellan reclines back on the sofa, but Dane doesn’t move. His arms pulse with tension as he glares at the table. It’s as if he’s taking my injury personally. But he had nothing to do with it. Or my being there. It was my choice. He never asked me to give myself up to get Vera back. This is all on me.
