Carter chuckled, a low, amused sound before he spoke as though to break the strange atmosphere.“I heard you werequitethe topic.”
I blew out a long breath.Wasn’t I always the topic of conversation?It wasn’t anything new, but rather an annoying fact that never quite went away.“Oh, really?”I asked as though I didn’t know.Better to act as though it didn’t bother me than let them see me sweat.
“Heard she scored highest of the S-Ranks,” Ingram added.
“Great job,” Kenyon said from around a mouthful of food.
I frowned, the words all strange.Praise wasn’t something I was accustomed to, not anymore.That was the sort of thing loving parents did, so I hadn’t experienced it since before I’d lost my own.It felt like when people reached out to stray dogs—no matter how wholesome the intention, the stray didn’t trust it enough to enjoy it.
I reacted similarly, with distrust, waiting for the other shoe to drop, for them to twist it somehow.
However, that didn’t happen.Instead, they went on with their conversation, letting the compliments rest on me, forcing me to sit with them.
“How mad were they?”Carter asked, looking over at Shear.
“Does it matter?”
That took me back to earlier, when I’d felt a rush of power that I’d immediately identified as Shear.It had been so strange that I had wondered at first if I’d felt it at all.He was usually so well controlled, to feel him in that way had surprised me.
Almost as much as it has surprised me that he’d reach forme.Of all things he could have done, why would he reach for me?And why was it that my response—as straightforward as it had been—had somehow allowed him to gain his own control again.
“Can you blame them?”Ingram asked, pointing his fork at Shear.“He made a big ol’ spectacle of himself.What was that all about?You’re usually way too smart to pull that sort of shit.Way to rile them up.”
“Oh, likeyou’reone to talk,” Carter said.“You cause problems allthe time.Remember when you slept with the wife of that senator?”
“No, I don’t.”
“And his brother?”
Ingram smirked as though it had just come back to him.“Oh, yeah, that was fun.”Not a bit of shame resting in those words—if anything, he looked rather proud.
It didn’t shock me, either.It would have been more surprising if Ingram had pretended not to be a man whore, after all.
“It’s not like they don’t know what I can do,” Shear said.
“Yeah, but they like to forget.Reminding them puts us on their radar,” Carter said.
“Good.It would do them well to remember.”
The way Shear said that drew my focus, a solidness to those words which seemed so unlike him.
It sure sounded like it mattered to him even if I couldn’t understand why.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Kenyon
The night pressed in on me, the sounds so different from our home on the beach.It had me struggling to fall asleep, struggling to relax enough to drift off.
I’d never cared for the beach, much preferring the woods.The openness of the sea had always overwhelmed me.Still, this wasn’t either of those things.Instead, it was desert, just flat and brown and full of spindly bushes that reminded me far too much of the dungeons for my comfort.
The air conditioner inside of the RV hummed softly, keeping us comfortable at least.I could appreciate that, since I doubted sweating like crazy would make the situation any better.
When tossing and turning didn’t resolve anything—and in fact I ended up with Ingram muttering so many times I was pretty sure he’d come down one bunk and smack me if I kept it up—I gave up and rolled out of the bed.
I’d gotten the bottom given my size, plus my lack of physical skills meant it was better for one of the others to climb.No one wanted me toppling down.
I didn’t bother to put my shoes on, instead creeping as quietly as I could move my rather large and unwieldy body.No reason to risk waking Yun—she’d struck me as exhausted lately.
