Laken crossed his arms and shifted on his feet. “Where’s the auction? Security?”
“The Blackthorn Mansion…” Deklan continued, but itwent in one ear and out the other for me. I didn’t understand whatever language they were speaking; the information passed right over my head. Underground auctions were news to me, though not surprising; poachers were always a threat. “It’s the same group that has their eye on your place.”
Oh.This just became very sickeningly real.
“How much payment are we talking here?”
My head snapped up.
Deklan smirked. “Forty-five hundred macs.”
Mother-clucker.Forty-five hundred macs for one job. Two pigs. Perfectly doable. Laken looked at me, but he already knew my answer. He knew I needed that money, but truthfully… I had to save those pigs.
“You want it or not?” Deklan’s voice sounded like whatever made the branches of the forest cry. Dark, smoky, and too intimidating for me. But Laken shook Deklan’s hand and sealed the deal. With that payment, we’d be pretty close to set.
They continued talking about whatever men talk about. Once I recognized the comfort returning to Laken’s posture and tone, I made my way back into his house, where the food called my name. Slipping between little group chats, I faked smiles and whispered, “Excuse me,” more times than I could count. Most of the women around were Faye’s friends from the school and town—meaning they wore too much perfume, cared too much about appearances, and were as nosey as Goldie. Luckily, I could be considered a professional expert at dodging conversations.
The crowd parted as I reached the kitchen—the gates to the almighty, if you would. After-dinner parties were my favorite because it meant there’d be desserts. Pies. Fruit salads. Tarts. Pastries. One thing about Faye Augustus, she’d go above and beyond for no good reason other than wanting to. And I thanked the Gods for it as I gathered a sampler plate, as I call it—a bit of everything and a bit more of everything else.
I leaned against the counter and hid from the drama piranhas, my soul nearly leaving my body when Laken’s older sister, Leanora, and her soon-to-be-wife, Ivy, snuck in from the other side door giggling and whispering. Lea’s eyes widened and she stopped so abruptly Ivy smacked into her shoulder. I raised my brows.
Lea stood every inch of her six feet, always neck and neck with Laken. She’d cut her black hair short, shaved on one side. Her eyes, like her brother’s, were a glimmering blue. She wore a black little corset with black pants. Lea worked at an armory last I knew. Ivy, on the other hand, had tan freckled skin and green eyes. Wavy light-brown hair cascaded beautifully down her back. Her cream-colored dress fit her well. She seemed humble and gentle from what I’d heard about her. She was a healer working in Riversbend, where the two lived.
“Reece?” Lea questioned, but quickly realized it was, in fact, me standing there. She threw her arms around my neck. “Laken said you’d be here, but I didn’t actually believe him.”
Holding my plate out to avoid it smearing on my dress, I half hugged her back. Nodding to the rings on their fingers, I gave my congratulations. Lea and I could basically beconsidered friends; she’d always been laid-back and easy to talk to. We got along well, even as kids.
“Right, right. You haven’t met Ivy.” She stepped back to her fiancée and introduced her properly, though I knew more than I should’ve, simply from hearsay. “This is Reece, Laken’s… um. Laken’s—” Lea cut off, looking at me for an answer. She didn’t know what to call me. And neither did I.
“Ex. Past. Future. Friend? Call it what you want.” I shrugged and ate another bite. “Or Reece is fine.”
Ivy smiled, bright and warm. “Reece it is, then.”
“We’re so glad to have you both back. It felt weird having Laken without you, and vice versa. I don’t even remember Laken before you, if there was such a thing.” Lea waded through the kitchen and poured them glasses of wine, offering me one, but I waved it off with a mouth full of chocolate pie.
Lea sipped her wine and made a face. “Does suck he won’t be here for the wedding, though. I’d hoped he’d be able to stay home for another three months, and yet we didn’t even get a week’s notice of him leaving again.”
Because I half-listened, I nodded with fakeyeahs andohs. Until I choked on my pie. Stepping back to avoid the spill on my dress, I covered my mouth and regathered myself. “I’m sorry, what?”
She looked at me from her peripheral, her brows lowering. “Well… since he’s leaving for work again soon and will be gone for months…”
I didn’t hear what else she said. I didn’t hear her ask if Iknew. I didn’t hear her curse as she realized. Across the room, standing under the buttery light of a floating candle, Laken’s gaze met mine and the world shifted under my feet.
I knew by his face that he knew by my face that I knew. His wide grin died and turned into something deserving of a soggy sweat sock to his cheek: regret.
In the middle of a crowded room, surrounded by people, I’d never felt so alone. Laken was leaving and he didn’t tell me.
The muscles in my jaw quivered and clenched and did everything in their power to restrain me from crying. I didn’t cry in front of people. The familiar slithering anxious feeling snaked up my throat and squeezed. As the floor under my feet disappeared, the sound around me drew silent and the walls no longer supported the roof but closed in on me instead.
I needed out. And because of the people and Laken, I couldn’t take the front door. Which left me with one option.
Speed walking down the hall, I made sure to keep a pace fast enough to get me out but slow enough to avoid drawing attention. The back door was too visible; I’d be seen trying to flee the scene. I couldn’t make it up the stairs fast enough—it had to be stairs.Fucking stairs, I cursed under my breath. My world had fallen into shambles, and I had to exercise—double whammy. Tripping up, I grabbed the rail and didn’t look back to see who’d possibly seen up my dress as I leaned forward. The second the floor came into sight, I searched frantically to find the window on the second floor that Laken and I used to sneak in and out of. Like a fish out of water, I hurriedly set my glass down and crouched at the seal of the window at the end of the hall.
Am I really jumping out of a window to avoid confrontation?
Yes. The answer was and always will be yes.
Unlatching the metal, it took one good shove to pry the window open enough for me to slide onto the roof. Thankfully, the noise from the party below drowned out my escape and I made it. Or I dangled from the roof.
