That explained why he was being so ballsy in front of her last night.
Anger filled her eyes. “Why is it okay for you and not me?”
I sputtered at her question. What kind of stupid question was that. “Because that’s how the world works.”
A frown tugged onto her face. “What does that mean?”
“You’re too smart for this stupid line of questioning.” Why was my heart banging so hard? The blood in my veins raced like I was under attack, and the need to run itched so badly I wanted to go and never look back.
“Well, pretend I’m a two-year-old and dumb it down for me.” Her face turned a darker shade of red.
“Because you’ve got a family and money,” I snapped at her. “And a safe place to sleep at night. I’m just trying to survive. You have choices.”
It pissed me off so much. That this girl was so narrow focused in her competition with me, that she lowered herself in a misguided attempt to get higher.
Couldn’t she see? She already won.
Her lips trembled and her eyes grew glassy as she chewed over my words. She didn’t move an inch. It was like I slapped her and she didn’t know what to do with herself.
It took more time for her to recover than I thought possible. “You’re one of the best. Smarter and prettier than me. There are real opportunities out there. Ones that don’t have strings attached.”
My face heated up. Prettier? She needed therapy.
“I haven’t found those, Shannon.” I’d made contacts over the years, but it was Gale’s friends. He’d besmirch my professional name before I even got started. “I can’t ruin what I’ve got.”
“So you sleep with him.”
I wasn’t sure which was the harder slap in the face. Her accusation or the tear rolling down her face.
“Not yet,” I whispered. “But when it’s time to pay up, I’m sure it will come up.”
She scoffed and shook her head in disgust. “He’s waiting until the last year so you have too much to lose to fight him, and dangle your doctorate in front of your face like a carrot.”
“Yeah.” There it was. The truth I’d worked so hard to pretend wasn’t real.
Rage filled those fiery hazel eyes. “That’s bullshit.”
Tears pricked at my eyes, and I turned away from her, not wanting to see how badly it stung. How perfectly aware I was that I might do eight years of work, just for someone else toclaim my efforts and maybe even rip it away from me right as I could taste it.
“Why would you tolerate that?”
“Because it was my only escape,” I whispered, continuing on our narrow path to the other side of two sloughs.
“Explain yourself.” She followed close behind me.
No, I’d said enough. More than I ever should have. If Shannon confronted him on one of her humanity kicks, I’d be the one to pay the price.
“Talia, What is that?” The fear in her voice made my blood run cold.
My eyes immediately went to the water and found the glowing red eyes an arm’s reach away.
“Stay calm. Easy steps. We have to finish crossing.”
“What is it?” Talia’s hands grabbed onto me, and the creature snarled with a veracity that turned my stomach into a pit.
Somehow I knew, that was the only warning we’d get.
His eyes moved upwards, and the water level rose with him, giving a terrifying outline of what was fixing to be after us.
