Page 93 of Nova Academy

Lunch was another terribly uncomfortable endeavour, but I endured it. I sequestered myself away from the others by eating my meal in the kitchenette, then leaving for the afternoon class before the others were finished. I was still doing a terrible job of acting normal, but it was the best I could manage without breaking down in front of everyone.

When they eventually showed up, Reece sat on my left while Bromm took up my right, and while I sent them both a smile to try to prove we were okay, it was clear it hadn’t worked. So, I ignored them for the rest of class. I ignored the instructor, too, zoning out when I realised I wouldn’t be learning anything new or useful intoday’s lesson.

Instead, I focused on the law enforcement officials that sat in on the class, examining us with a critical eye while they searched for the unsub. It didn’t escape my notice how their attention kept drifting back to Reece and it made me bristle, until I remembered that any connection I had felt with these men was either fake or couldn’t last, so there was no point in worrying myself over them.

Not anymore. I never should have allowed myself to care in the first place. It just made things all the more difficult now, which I had expected to some degree. I hadn’t expected to let myself care as much as I did, however, so despite my efforts to remain uncaring over the situation, I still found myself wanting to tear those officers apart for daring to believe the worst in my friend.

No. He wasn’t my friend. He couldn’t be.

My conflicted feelings must have shown in my stance or my expression, because both men suddenly gripped my hands tightly as if the action would anchor me to the present moment. What shocked me the most was that it actually worked. The sensation of skin against skin, the pressure of their fingers digging into mine, it succeeded in not only halting the thoughts running wild through my brain but gave me a sense of peace in their company, whether I wanted it or not. As they held onto my hands, the paranoia simply fell away as if it were insignificant and flimsy.

‘Are you okay?’ Reece leaned in close to whisper in my ear.

I sent him a weak smile that was surprisingly genuine. ‘No,’ I admitted. ‘But this is helping,’ I squeezed his hand to prove what I was referring to.

‘We’re talking after class,’ Bromm uttered into my other ear. With their faces so close to mine, a shiver coursed up my spine while a heat settled low in my stomach. I wanted to agree but knew I shouldn’t, so I didn’t say anything in response.

Fuck, I was weak. They made me weak. The last time anyone had made me feel like this was over two solars ago, and the merethought ofhimhad me pulling away. I had been hurt before and I wasn’t about to let it happen again.

But more than that, if either one of them was truly unaware of my secrets, the thought of hurting them by letting them believe anything real could happen, be that friendship or something more, was cruel. More than cruel. I wasn’t the type of woman to toy with someone’s feelings, but in my selfishness that was exactly what I had been doing. It didn’t matter if my feelings towards them were genuine, my lies unravelled it all.

I wanted to tell them everything, to bare my soul in front of them and beg for forgiveness. But Libby needed me more. She needed me to be strong and maintain my cover.

I had to let them go.

CHAPTER 38

Reece

Arty was moving at high speeds when class ended, beating everyone else out of the room and into the elevator before we could catch up. Bromm and I tried, and Foryk kept pace though he remained unaware of the reason for our rush. He didn’t complain though, which was nice. If it had been anyone else I didn’t think they would have been so understanding. Or silent. The big man certainly had a way with no words, that was for sure.

Regardless, Arty managed to find himself the sole rider of the elevator, the door slamming shut right before we reached him.

‘Damn,’ Bromm cursed under his breath. He was panting slightly from the mad dash to try to catch Arty, and he seemed genuinely upset to have missed him. While I was aware of the strange dynamics of their budding relationship, I was concerned for the both of them that they would get hurt. Arty wasn’t ready for a commitment of any kind, and he clearly wasn’t going to allow anyone close to him while he was undercover. Which was why we needed to confront him about it and let him know that even though we knew, we weren’t upset with him.

I was struggling to find a reason for his mission. Despite the assault and the never-ending aftermath, there wasn’t anything that stood out to me that deserved further investigation. Either he was up to something nefarious, which I sincerely doubted after watching him and learning his reactions and mannerisms, or whatever he was investigating was incredibly well-hidden.

Except… There was that one conversation we overheard on our first day as a team. The one about the illegal organisation. Oh, shit.Of course. That was it.

‘Bromm,’ I said, smacking him repeatedly on the arm in myeagerness to tell him what I’d just figured out. He grabbed my hand and firmly lowered it down by my side, and I gave him a sheepish look in apology when he rubbed at the spot I’d been hitting.

Then I noticed Foryk eyeing me weirdly and the voices coming closer as the rest of the cadets approached the elevator.

Bromm must have realised the same thing I did. ‘Let’s talk back in the room.’

Foryk followed close behind, and Dorian’s team pushed through the crowd to make it in with us just in time. While the other team shot us mildly concerned looks, they shrugged off the weirdness. At this point Arty acting strange and distant while the rest of us scrambled to figure out how to fix things was becoming a pattern, so I understood their dismissiveness.

I had to repeat to myself over and over that it was most likely a good sign for Arty to be reacting the way he did. Every time he got spooked he would come back around with a little bit more of those walls of his chipped away. I figured that was why he was freaking out so much, because we were finding those cracks and making them bigger and wider until we were able to squeeze through. We were slowly but surely wedging our way inside and, combined with his secrets, he was afraid.

Of what, was the real question. And Bromm and I were equally determined to find out.

Foryk trailed close by as we entered Brin’s suite, and I exchanged a look with Bromm that proved he was just as eager for privacy as me. I came to a screeching halt, however, when I realised that wasn’t going to be possible, because standing at attention in the centre of the living room was the captain flanked by a brilliantly green, Tornu law enforcement officer with enough badges on his chest to prove he was the one in charge. Arty was also there, though he was sitting in the armchair, his face pinched and pale.

‘Reece Hastings,’ the stranger began and the captain took a step back, submitting to the other. ‘You are hereby placed under arrestfor the assault of Katira Christianson and Ari Pifluk. Anything you wish to say can and will be used against you during your trial, so it is advised you remain silent. Please place your hands behind your back and prepare to be restrained.’

My head was shaking in disbelief, and instead of complying I backed up. ‘But there was surveillance evidence that it wasn’t me,’ I protested, not understanding how this was happening.

‘The surveillance evidence has been submitted to the courts and will be reviewed. As of this moment, you are under arrest. Please comply,’ the man said, moving towards me.

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