Page 37 of Bound By Thorns

“I’ll be there by tomorrow, and I won’t need to refill the canister,” I said.

“Jesus… are you okay?” Zane’s voice softened, filled with something I vaguely recognized as concern.

I tilted my head at the question. Why was he asking that? Of course I was okay. Everything was fine. Even the watch on mywrist was ticking perfectly, and the bedsheet in the room didn’t have any loose threads.

No wait.

“The car needs more gas,” I said, my tone robotic. “It’s approximately 215 miles from Boston to New York. The car gets about 30 miles per gallon, so that’s… seven gallons. I’ll need at least eight to account for variance. Gas prices are high. I’ll budget for nine gallons to be safe.”

“Kaylan?” Zane’s voice cracked slightly, a thread of alarm creeping into it.

I barely heard him. “The tank currently has three gallons. It’s not enough. I’ll take the car to the gas station. Nine gallons is… approximately $36 if gas is $4 per gallon. I’ll need to stop by the ATM first.”

“Kaylan,” Zane said again, louder this time. “Listen to me. Just stay where you are. I’m coming to get you. Don’t worry about the car, or the gas, or the math. Just… sit tight, okay?”

I blinked again, processing his words. Sit tight? Why would I need to sit tight? The math was sound. The plan was logical. But his voice—it had a strange urgency I couldn’t ignore.

“Okay,” I murmured after a beat. “I’ll wait.”

The line stayed silent for a moment before Zane exhaled, the sound heavy with relief. “I’ll be there soon, Kaylan. Just… hold on.”

I placed the receiver back on the cradle, staring at it for a long moment before turning back to the counter. Everything was fine. I only needed to poke a new hole in the watch’s strap.

Everything was fine.

???

Back in New York at the Blackthorn security office, it really hit me how naive I’d been. Despite Logan’s blowup, Squad Six didn’t hold it against me. They actually welcomed me backwarmly and told me about Alpha One’s decision to add me to their squad.

At dinner that night, Logan wasn’t there. Zarek told me about how he was not sleeping at all, so they had given him a medication to force him to sleep. Lorazepam, probably.

Maybe I could do with some forced sleeping.

After dinner, I stumbled into the bathroom, my movements mechanical, like a puppet on invisible strings. I flicked on the light and stared at my reflection in the mirror.

My eyes were swollen, puffy from lack of sleep, probably. But that wasn’t what caught me off guard.

It was the way my eyes stared back at me.

Accusatory.

Repulsed.

Enraged.

Why?

The thought came slowly, like a drip of water through a crack, seeping into my mind. My parents had been poisoned a week before Sebastian rescued us. A week before freedom, before escape.

And then his words echoed in my memory, slick and venomous.

‘I was just jealous, darling, but you shouldn’t have made me jealous. Everything has consequences.’

The pieces snapped together. Garret. He’d already seen through my charade, hadn’t he? He must have known I was pulling away, my loyalty fracturing. And he punished me because he could.

My parents were gone—erased because of me. Because I’d let Garret into my life.

And now, with my body no longer my own, with children I might never have, I realized something colder and darker.

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