The shout snaps me from the chaos, and I spin to see Brix standing there, arms crossed, jaw set. His eyes are sharp and concerned, but leak warmth that I feel wrapping around me.
“What’s going on?” he asks, concern cutting through the tension in his voice. His gaze flicks past me to the dummies and crunched in skull. “Talk to me.”
I can’t stop the words from spilling out. “I saw him.” My voice is ragged, my thoughts uncontrolled. “Atticus. With -her.”
“Her?” Brix questions. “Her, who? Daphne?”
“No.” My hands come up to my face and grab fists of my hair. “I can’t even think. It hurts…. It hurts so bad, Brix. There was a classroom.”
Doubling over and sitting with my head between my knees, I take deep long breaths. “The bond… it’s tearing me apart, Brix. He doesn’t even look at me. Doesn’t even see me. I feel like I’m already dead, just waiting for my body to catch up. Something is breaking inside of me. I know it sounds insane…”
Brix’s jaw tightens, but he doesn’t step back. He kneels down to my level, his presence a solid weight against the chaos in my chest. “You don’t sound insane, Arwen. I don’t have a bond, but we all grow up hearing about what they feel like. And you have four.” His voice drops to a whisper.
“I can’t imagine what you are going through. But maybe I can help.”
I look up into his gentle chocolate brown eyes. “How?”
“Look at how this is affecting you. You know it has to affect him on this same magnitude. He just hasn’t seen what you have.” He says.
I look at him confused.
“We don’t play fair,” he says, quiet but sharp. “He thinks he’s got control, that he can toy with you. We flip the board. We make him feel it instead. Send some of this bond torture his way. You shouldn’t be the only one carrying this pain, Arwen.”
I stare at him, my hands still trembling, my body buzzing with the residue of the bond. “You mean… what? With who?” My voice is incredulous.
“Me,” He says.
“You?” I ask.
“Yes,” he says, eyes steady on mine. “I flirt with you. Make sure he sees it. Let him taste a little of the chaos he’s been stirring inside you. If the bond is tearing you apart every time he touches someone else, we turn it right back on him. Give him a taste of the fire he started.”
My chest tightens, my pulse hammering. The idea is reckless. Dangerous. Dirty. Insane.
And yet, a small part of me feels it—that release, that tiny easing of the inferno. The thought of Atticus’s jaw tightening, the way hishands might clench if he sees me smiling at Brix… it makes my chest ache in a new way.
“I…” I falter, words catching in my throat. “That’s… insane. And risky. What if it backfires?”
Brix leans closer, the faintest smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth, unflinching. “Nothing worth doing is safe, Arwen. He’s been playing his game for weeks, seeing what he can make you feel. Now it’s our turn. You’re not the one getting burned here anymore. Not if I can help it.”
My throat goes dry. His hand hovers near mine, and just the awareness of him here grounds me in a strange, furious calm.
“I don’t… I don’t know if I can do it,” I admit, voice small but defiant.
“You don’t have to do it alone,” he says, unwavering. “I’ve got you. And trust me… he’s going to notice. That bond of yours isn’t subtle—it’s screaming. And it’s time someone else felt it for once.”
The wind catches my hair, the late afternoon sun slanting across the casting grounds. My heart is still hammering, my chest still heaving, but for the first time in weeks, I feel a bit of confidence. I have a plan to get back at Atticus for all the horrible things he has put me through.
25
Thou Shalt Not Forget Who’s Watching
Arwen
“Here, let me carry that for you,” Brix says, brushing past me with a crooked grin as I pile my tray with bacon and eggs. His fingers brush mine when he steadies the tray, and I can’t help the tiny spark it sends through me.
“Brix, I can carry my own breakfast,” I say, trying to sound annoyed, but the heat creeping up my neck betrays me.
“Sure, sure,” he says, shrugging as if it’s the most natural thing in the world. “But I enjoy holding your hand while I do it.”
