Page 21 of Delirium
She stumbled backward as soon as I said that.
“When I figured out where you were, I wasn’t picking up pieces of my heart from the floor. I was angry, Sunshine. Devastated, because I thought you did it just to get away from me. I thought you never cared for me, and I lost it.”
“But out of all those girls, all the people in this Club, did it have to be her?”
Ophelia stood in front of me, asking questions to which I didn’t have an answer. She wanted me to tell her it never happened, but it did.
“I wasn’t thinking, Sunshine,” I murmured. “I didn’t think about the person in front of me. I missed you, I hated you at that moment. I wanted you back, and I didn’t know how to cope. I didn’t sleep with Nova to deliberately hurt you. I didn’t do it out of spite, but it did have its perks, because we all know Nova is working with Belladonna. Hell, you were the one who told us. We’ve been closely monitoring her, but we don’t have any other leads for Belladonna. Keeping Nova close and under observation means that we still might find out who this person is.”
“You could have told me all of this months ago, Storm. But the moment I want to leave, the moment I want to put you behind me, you come crawling back, telling me everything I deserved to know. I could have helped from day one, if only you didn’t let your feelings cloud your judgment. We could have caught this person already, but you chose to keep your lips sealed, treating me like an enemy.”
“You’re not my enemy. You’re—”
“Shut up, Storm. I don’t want to hear it anymore. We need to get Cillian here or wherever we’re going, and we need to make a proper plan that’s going to lead us to Belladonna.”
“So, just like that, you’re fine with everything?”
“I’m far from fine, Storm. I am doing this for our kids, not for you. I meant every single word I said before—there is no us, and there never will be. But Belladonna is a real threat, and I don’t want them living in a world where such a person exists.”
She said our kids. I smirked as she talked, knowing we were getting somewhere.
“So, you’re coming to Winworth with me?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“No,” I grinned, “you don’t. But I thought I would ask anyway.”
She sat down on the bed, huffing and puffing but she couldn’t help the small smile dancing on her lips.
“Get the fuck out of here, Storm. I’m supposed to be your prisoner.”
But she could never be my prisoner because I was always hers. She captivated me from the first time I met her, her soul calling to mine, and I was never going to let go.
Even if I wanted to, she was forever etched in my core, her name the only prayer on my lips. Now, I just needed to prove that every single word spoken from my lips was true.
Now, I just needed to show her, instead of only telling her.
5
OPHELIA
I hated cold places.I hated winter, snow, ten layers of clothes and the fact that I had to wear a hat and gloves if I wanted to keep my ears and my fingers intact. All those Christmas movies were lies, with their pretty, white snow, and everyone walking around as if it wasn’t cold enough to cause hypothermia.
Atlas grinned as soon as we crossed the state lines, going further and further north, into the motherfucking cold. I wasn’t a prisoner anymore, but it still didn’t mean they trusted me. Instead of leaving me alone with my own car, I was seated as a petulant child between Storm and Indigo, both of them glancing at me every now and then. It wasn’t as if I could just evaporate from here. Where would I go? Jump through the window?
I was good with knives, but even I wouldn’t be able to carve a hole in the roof fast enough to escape from them. Storm hummed with the unmasked trepidation, and I knew he was still pissed about his shoulder, and wary about me.
I didn’t say I could forgive him. I didn’t say we could ever be together, but damn it felt good hearing all those words, even if I didn’t want them.
Sure you didn’t.
Indigo hated me again. Well, he hated what I did, but I was pretty sure that all those pretty words he graced me with would soon be a thing of the past. The animosity oozing off of him was anything but mild.
Atlas sat right in front of him, ignoring us, oohing and aahing over the snow visible on tops of the mountains we passed. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he pulled out his phone to take some photos. I kind of wanted him to do it—at least we would all have something to laugh about.
My hand pressed against my stomach, my thumb rubbing in a circle, and I could feel eyes on me from my right side, where Indigo sat. Looking up at him, I could see the sneer and the disgust in those eyes.
Maybe I should have been worried, or at least self-conscious because it was obvious he hated me—again. But I didn’t really give a fuck when he quite literally cornered me ten days ago, after Storm released me from my little prison, threatening me all over again, and in the moment of anger, mentioning my kids, when he very well knew that they were off-limits.
