Page 48 of Tether
“What’s gotten into you lately?” I ask, my voice low so only he can hear.
“There’s just been a lot going on.” He runs a hand over the back of his neck, and my brows pinch together.
“Like what?”
Reed’s eyes dart around the crowded room, then land back on me. “Just some shit with my dad. I can’t tell you here.”
Great.Anothersecret. He must see the annoyance written all over my face when I look away, because he speaks again quickly.
“How about this—you find the folder before our meeting tonight, and we can meet up after and talk. You can ask me anything you’d like, no more secrets.”
I look back at him, considering his offer. He smirks, andfuck, my indignation wavers.
“Promise?”
“Cross my heart, and hope to die.”
THIRTY-ONE
VERENA GRAVENHURST
“Shit,” I mutter to myself as the grandfather clock chimes seven times, echoing through the hallway and into the office. “You’ve got to be in heresomewhere,” I plead, running my sweaty palms down the length of my robe. Flipping frantically through the filing cabinet for the third time, I stand up straight and let out a huff. Reed might actually lose his shit tonight if I show up empty-handed again. My pulse thumps in my ears. Spinning on my heel, I swipe my mask from where I placed it on the desk, and freeze. Loxen stands in the doorway with his arms crossed and a cold expression shadowing his face. Something dangerous pulses in the air around us.
“Going somewhere?” His eyes drink in my attire, and I feel trapped, caught like a spider in a web of lies.
I feign innocence, mustering the best smile I can manage. “Oh.” I look down at my robe, and tuck the mask behind my back. “Mauve invited me to some stupid?—”
His eyes darken, “I know about the society, Verena. It’s quite fitting that they would give you the mask of a crow, isn’t it?” My heart drops, but I steady my expression.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Lox,” I say, inching to move past him, but he doesn’t move a muscle.
“Move please, I have somewhere to be.” I lift my chin a little higher.
“You’re exactly where you should be, Verena.” He pierces me with a disapproving stare, and I can feel the weight of his distaste slithering across my skin.
“Do you have any idea what kind of danger you’re putting yourself in by associating with these people? And to become one of them?” He shakes his head. “It’s a death sentence in itself. Kissing Reed is one thing, one of which is beyond my understanding, but doing his bidding, Verena, is another thing entirely.”
“This doesn’t concern you, Loxen. What I do with my time and who I choose to spend it with is none of your business.”
Lox’s eyes flare, then soften, a sadness looming over his features at my words of dismissal.
“Youare my business, little crow!” His voice becomes louder in the tight space between us. “Open your eyes! You’re so blinded by the simple gestures of a fractured man that you can’t see what he is and what you will become by association. He will take and take and take until you’re nothing but a broken version of yourself, and I can’t stand by and watch that happen. I won’t.”
I nod my head, his words making sense to me now. “So this is about Reed. You have a shattered perception of a man you don’t even know, yet you insist on robbing me of my happiness, and for what? Because you’re jealous?”
“Jealous?” He lets out a dry laugh, dragging his hands down his face.
“Yes, little crow. I’m fuckingjealous. Is that what you want to hear?” He takes a step towards me. “Watching you parade about with that sorry excuse of a man torments every fibre of my being. It’s absolutely maddening!” He raises his voice, then takes a pause,gathering his thoughts, as if choosing his next words carefully.
“I only yearn for one thing, Verena. Every waking day, my heart aches to see you happy, even if that reality exists far beyond the reach of me.”
“Lox—don’t.”
He takes a step towards me, closing the gap between us a little more, and I mirror his actions by taking a step back.
“Tell me you feel nothing for me.”
“Lox—” I say, suddenly breathless as he begins to unravel before me.
