Page 87 of Resolve
The door opens before I’ve even finished. Jackson holds it open for me as I walk inside Alice’s apartment, where they’ve been trying to teach her how to make others invisible.
“Why are you even here if you’re not going to help me?!” Alice shout-whines.
Dane scoffs. “And what else do you want me to do? I can’t do it for you, Alice. You have to actually fucking try.”
“Iamtrying, asshole!”
“Are you? Because all I hear is complaining. You want me to leave, but the second I do, you’ll be begging me to come back so you’re not alone with Jack.”
“You’re supposed to protect me from him if he threatens me again—”
Dane cuts her off with a mocking laugh. “I couldn’t do shit to stop him if that’s what he wants to do. I’m just here to make you feel better.”
“Well, you’re doing a terrible fucking job of that!”
“Heyyyy, guys...” I slowly cut in.
Dane’s eyes widen when he sees me. He looks away, rubbing the back of his head. “I need a minute to cool down,” he mutters,storming into the bathroom and closing the door behind him.
Alice glares after him. “Jerk.” She faces me, still looking annoyed. “If you’re here to see how it’s going, it’s not. I can’t do it!”
I offer her a comforting smile. “I wasn’t expecting you to get it like that.” I snap my fingers. “But that doesn’t mean we give up. Let’s take a short break and try again when you’re feeling up to it again.” Looking around her apartment, I don’t see the other person I’d been expecting. “Elias said your brother is staying here with you, too? I heard he doesn’t do well with a lot of people, which is why you wanted to train in here.”
She makes a face and plops into the nearest seat. “Sam’s in his bedroom. He’s been spying on the same board member for a long freaking time. I’m not sure he even remembershowto talk. And he’s fine with other people as long as they’re not talking to him or looking at him.”
Right. Just that.
Dane rejoins us. He comes up behind me, sliding his hands around my waist and tucking his chin over my shoulder in a backward hug. “Somehow, Harvey is looking like the most well-adjusted sibling,” he remarks, earning a middle finger and sour face from Alice. He lowers his voice for only me. “Sorry about before.”
I hold his arms over my stomach and kiss his cheek. “It’s okay. You guys have been at this for a while. Maybe I can help change things up.”
“How’d your training go?”
When I spin in his arms, he effortlessly adjusts to holding my hips while I settle my hands on his chest and share a wicked smirk. “Oh, well enough to almost cause a mass panic in the crowd.”
His eyebrows lift.
“Because Kellan almost turned into a fucking dragon,” I continue, laying that bombshell down.
Dane’s mouth pops open. I peek around him and find even Jackson looking a bit surprised. “He, what?!”
“No wings or tail popped out, but he looked like he was right there. Horns and claws and all.”
“Fuck.” He cranes his head to peer over his shoulder at Jack. “What’s the death rate for leveling up again?”
Jackson smirks. “Sixty percent, according to Thorne.”
“That’s a forty percent chance of surviving and getting stronger,” Dane muses when he turns back around.
I smack his chest. “That’s still too high a risk, Dane.”
“What if I could do more, though? More people. Or make it stronger some other way.”
Alice snorts. “I bet it’d just glow brighter.”
“Says the girl whose idea of trying is just squeezing my arm to death,” Dane retorts.
“Can Sam turn others invisible?” I ask before another squabble breaks out.
