Kit flushes, and Jax shifts on his feet.
“Yeah, we’re good. We aren’t exchanging rings.”
“Yet,” I add, and they both stare at me in disbelief. Hmph. They just don’t realize how they feel yet. I know more than they do at this moment. I’m very emotionally aware.
“Well, anyway. Toodles. I’m going to head inside before I get sunburned and wait for Georgiy to come back.”
“Good idea,” Jax replies, and then the two of them watch as I wander back toward the house, waving at them as I go.
The sunlight is stifling, making my skin burn, so I quickly enter one of the sheds that leads to the tunnels and make my way down to my butchery to await my soul mate’s arrival back home.
The only problem is he doesn’t come back.
Night comes, and he doesn’t call to say where he’s gone.
When I try to reach him, it goes to voicemail.
I call again—and sixteen more times after that—and he finally picks up, his voice curt and annoyed. My chest constricts.
“Yes?” he drawls.
“Where are you? When are you coming back?”
He’s silent for a while. “I have something I need to attend to. It requires my immediate attention.”
“So, you’ll be back later? I have something for you,” I add, trying not to sound as needy as I am.
Hell, I know I’m as needy as I sound. I honestly don’t care.
“I…Umnyashka, I don’t want it. Not now.”
My heart shrivels a little. “You don’t want it?”
“No. I can’t talk right now.”
And then the phone goes dead, and I’m left listening to nothing on the other end of the line.
He couldn’t have… Did he just leave me all alone with a ring burning a hole in my pocket? One that I made just for him? It seems he has. It seems I’ve been left once again.
Something ugly unfurls inside me, and the walls start to close in. Suddenly, this place doesn’t feel as homey as I’ve made it.
I swipe at my eyes and crawl under my desk. I pull my knees into my chest and press my face into my hands.
Just for a while. I’m going to rest here for a while.
9
GEORGIY
The night is warm, making my suit unbearable. I hate sweating, despise feeling dirty. And yet, I’ve managed to attract a Bane in my life. Someone so unkempt, so wild…so filthy. He always has blood on him, or dirt, or a combination of the two.
“Stop here and wait for me to return,” I tell my driver, who just scoffs at me.
“This is a rideshare, man. I’m not paid to wait.”
I stare at the unrulypizdain the front seat. No one does as they’re told anymore. It irritates me, makes me want to restrain him on a surgeon’s table and slice him apart. Slowly. Methodically. Just like I used to do when I practiced. Until it was taken from me.
You will never work again. I’ll make sure of that.
