For once, I stopped running hot. Every ounce of fire was extinguished by the sight of that scar, of the way she weaponized it against me. I deserved it; I knew I did. But my chest tightened, my feet turned numb, and my mouth went dry. I didn’t taste ash—I tasted blood.
A metallic tang ran across my tongue as I bit my cheek and clenched my fists.
Stay calm, Leo. Stay cool. Apologize. Don’t be a jerk, don’t be a?—
“What happened to you being third class?” I spat.
Those weren’t the words I wanted to say; it wasn’t the topic I wanted to harp on. But I was never good at talking, anyway. Fighting was more my speed.
“You weren’t supposed to be in the field,Alex. You were supposed to besafe,” the last word ground out like a curse.
Her jaw dropped before she started poking me in the chest with a single small finger. Each word was punctuated with a hard jab, as if she could stab me straight through the heart with her nails.
“Why do you even care about my class?! You don’t know shit about me. It’s none of your business, weirdo!”
I gaped.She thinks I’m weird?
But she continued on, as if she didn’t just throw me a gut punch. “If youhaveto know, I’m a third class Hero, but first class in intelligence. The top of the bottom of the barrel, exactly what you always thought I should be. I get in, get the information, set the trap, and get the fuck out of dodge. It’s not a big deal.”
I let out a breath, and smoke filtered out of my nose. My insides were burning again, ignited by Alex’s flame. A cigarette was in my mouth and lit before I could even think, pulling a long drag in as I attempted to remain calm.
“Are you serious?” She scoffed. “You can’t smoke in here.”
I narrowed my eyes and gave her a hateful smile. “First class privileges, Sweetheart. Deal with it; blame it on thatlittle brainof mine.”
Why did I even care? I must have lost my fucking mind. But Alex was here, giving me all her spite, refusing to back down even though she was half my size. And she didn’t look as broken anymore.
“You know what?” She sighed and held up her hands. “I can’t deal with this right now.”
She went to dodge around me, and when I reached for her, she spun around with that pointed finger, threatening to bruise my chest again.
“Don’t.”
I stared at her, openmouthed, with my cigarette hanging out of my lips, as she unlocked the door and stomped away. I trailed behind, urgency buzzing through me as I watched her pull out her cell phone and press it against her ear. Reed stood outside the door, his face red and lips pressed tight together.
“This…should work out well,” he chuckled nervously.
I shot him a glare before shouting, “Alex! We’re not done yet!”
She turned around, wrath on her face, as she pointed that damned finger at me again. “Shut it, asshole!” Alex sneered at me before turning her attention back to her phone. “Minnie, I’m sorry. Do you have an appointment available today? It’s…urgent.”
Reed cleared his throat as we watched her walk away, aseveryonein the building watched her leave. I was left frozen, adrenaline pushing through my body.
“Maybe give her a day to cool off,” Reed shrugged. “Or, like, a week.”
I shook my head, still in a daze. “Who the fuck is Minnie?”
“You’re…so bad at this, man. Like, so terribly bad.”
EIGHT
ALEX
“That’s…quite a lot to take in,” Minnie blanched, and for once, she wasn’t able to hide her expression. “How, uhm… do you feel… about… all this?”
I deadpanned. “How do you think I feel?”
She nodded quickly before jotting down a few notes. “Well, it seems that as overwhelming as this all is, it’s at least broken you out of this cycle. I know I told you to try something new, and this is certainly new…”
