“Your heart is racing. I can hear it through all your meat.” She teased, pressing her palm to my pec.
“It’s nothing,” I forced a smile. “I’m all good, darlin’.”
I’d hoped it would soothe her mind, but my response only made her purse her lips.
“Why do you always say that? You’re always holding your shit together for the rest of us, and I’ve never seen you take a minute to just let yourself… feel.”
I stiffened slightly, blinking as I tried to come up with a response. Frankly, I didn’t realize that she had noticed — it didn’t feel like anyone noticed all of the work I put in to keep everything stable.
But Kiera had always been too observant.
She sighed. “You can only keep it up for so long before you’re going to blow a gasket.”
“You’d be surprised,” I teased back, but that only made her frown.
“Didn’t you make me promise to be honest with you about how I was feeling?”
“Well yeah, but that’s you,” I shrugged. “I never promised I’d do the same.”
“No, but you promised me no more secrets. And I feel like you’re keeping one.”
She’s fucking relentless.
I sighed, feeling my mask start to crack under her constant prodding. “You want the truth, Kiera? If I’m being totally honest, I feel… confused.”
“Why?” she traced her hand from my pec to my shoulder, rubbing comfort into the skin.
I looked out the window, struggling to find the words. The sun would be rising soon. “I’m trying to figure out The Oracle’s game. It’s become clear to me, especially since our trip to Delphi, that The Oracle brought you and Dom together for a reason, right?”
“Uh-huh,” Kiera nodded, furrowing her brow.
“And the same is true for Spencer and Dom. So it would follow…”
“That there was a connection between you and Dom?”
“Right.” I nodded.
“But we already knew that. You guys went to school together, your parents probably knew each other.”
“Sure, but as far as I know, that was a distant connection. And given how close the ties between you three are, I can’t help but wonder if there’s something else there. Something that I’m missing.”
Once I’d voiced it, that fear coiled up my spine like a snake, squeezing tighter each second that Kiera was silent.
“It’s nothing.” I shook my head, leaning back against the seat. “I don’t want you worrying about my paranoia. Not when you’ve got a whole corporate coup to deal with.”
But before I could retreat, Kiera placed a hand on my forearm, stilling my thoughts. “No, it’s good. I asked.”
I opened my mouth to push back, but she cut me off. “You know everything about me, Leo. But to feel close to you, I need this — I need to know what’s going on in your head.”
“I just don’t want to burden you with?—”
“You’re not a burden,” her eyes flashed with something like hurt as she shook her head. “You arenota burden. Would you ever say that about me?”
“Well, no, but?—”
“I care about you, Leo.” She squeezed my arm, searching my gaze with those shimmering emerald eyes. “And I appreciate you letting me in, okay?”
“Okay,” I nodded, trying to believe her.
