I bowed my head, massaging my temples as Florence brought Rafe’s hand to her mouth. She ran through the alphabet, having him repeat the signs back to her. I peeked over, chewing on my tongue as I watched Rafe fumble through. He never gained confidence while they ran through various words and commands that would be part of our drills. He remained closed off, hesitating every time Florence brought his hand back to her mouth. The hour felt like it went far longer, Thorne and Kane practicing their own signs while I kept my head down.
“We’ll keep trying,” Florence said when we were finally done for the day. She reached for Rafe’s hand, prepared to repeat the words against his fingers, but he pulled away and shouldered past her to leave.
“Don’t mind him. There’s only one person he prefers touching him or vice versa, and she’s right there,” Kane said, nodding toward me.
I frowned, standing from my chair. I didn’t like the way he said it, like I was Rafe’s pet. “Fuck off,” I muttered, making my way to where the soldiers waited to escort us, Rafe already gone back to our cell.
But Florence hesitated. “Arden, wait.”
Thorne’s knuckles brushed mine as he and Kane passed me. He gave me a pointed look toplay niceand the brothers left.
“What?” I asked, turning back to her.
Florence cleared her throat. “Was that true? Does Rafe actually listen to you?”
I folded my arms. “He listens just fine to everyone. He’s only a little more comfortable with me because we were raised by the same asshole.”
“But weren’t Thorne and Kane, too?” she asked. She didn’t sound hard. She genuinely sounded curious.
I forced myself to let go of some of my bitterness. It wasn’t right how I felt about her. I guess it’d just been so long since I interacted with anyone outside of Creed and the people breaking us. I swallowed. “Yeah, they were.”
“Arden,” she said gently, her heels clicking as she approached me. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, but if that man can learn better from you, then it will speed all of this up, okay? He’s embarrassed, doing it here in front of all of us, but he doesn’t have much of a choice if he wants to keep protecting you.”
I stared at her. “You mean all of us.”
“No,” she said simply. “I meanyou. I’ve stood at the front of this room for over a month, and it’s almost like you all avoid looking directly in each other’s directions. Like you’re afraid too. The only one who ever does is Rafe, and he’salwayslooking at you.” She wet her lips, hesitating again when my fists curled. “I know I don’t know you, that I have no right to assume anything about any of you, but he needs you. I only have a week left, Arden, before Halden takes what he wants. Rafe needs to be better at listening by then, and that’s not going to happen if he keeps resisting instruction.”
“Okay,” I said, grinding my teeth. “Anything else?”
Florence shook her head and gestured to the last few guards remaining to take me back to the cell. “That’s all.”
“Good.” I took a step toward her, thrill running down my spine when she took a faltering step back. “If I do that for you—help Rafe—then I want you to do something for me.”
Her eyes widened. “What?” she breathed.
“Leave Kane alone,” I bit out.
Her brows pulled together. “I don’t understand.”
“You will,” I told her with a frown, “and when you do, I need you to do nothing. If we weren’t Creed, I’d want him to have everything he wanted, but that’s not the case. If you give him an inch, he’s so starved he’ll take a mile, and that’ll get him shot. Do you understand?”
A blush rose on her cheeks. “I’m not allowed to touch any of you. It was a risk even letting Rafe touch my mouth to learn those signs.”
I held her gaze. “Keep it that way, Mayhew. Got it?”
She nodded. “Yes. Sure.”
“Fine, then. Deal.” I extended my hand to her. “I’ll help Rafe. You’ll stay the fuck away from Kane.”
Carefully, she slid her palm into mine and shook it. Her pupils blew wide when I leaned in. I kept the words soft enough the guards couldn’t hear me. “And if you get the chance to run, Florence—run. I don’t know ifHalden’s paying you or what he has on you, but get the hell out if you still can.”
“Hey, no touching,” one of the soldiers barked and I pulled back, turning away from her torn expression.
That night, when the lights in the cell went out, I waited until Thorne was snoring above before I sat up and looked over at Rafe. He was hard to make out in the dark, but I was sure he was sleeping. Gearing up for a fight, I slipped across to his bunk. In a swift movement, I sat on the edge of his cot and pressed my hand over his mouth. He jerked awake, his hands immediately grabbing my hips. He was seconds from throwing me off, but I quickly reached up and tapped the hollow of his cheek twice.
The tension left him, not completely, but enough to tell me he recognized it was me. I let my hand slip from his mouth and reached to where he held my hips. I took his wrists and brought his hands to my face. His fingersslipped into place naturally, his right hand fitting over my lips and his left gently scraping down along my chin, waiting for me to speak.
“We’re going to run through the signs again,” I whispered. “Florence said we only have until the end of the week. Are you willing to let me help you?”
