Page 134 of Endless Anger
They aren’t coming back.
Ever.
People who took chances on me—they don’t get to do that anymore. I don’t get to continue relationships with them or spend my time turning down their invites to parties, picking up a menstrual cup from the campus store, or laughing internally when they say something funny or dumb or both.
They’re just…gone.
And someone here clearly wants me to believe it’s my fault.
Asher sighs. “Bellamy Dupont was that one professor’s twin sister. She disappeared under ‘mysterious circumstances’ and was never found. Officially anyway.”
“What does that mean?”
“Lucy…”
I pinch his side. “You owe me.”
Gritting his teeth, he groans under his breath, releasing me to leanagainst the wall. “There is arumorthat skeletal remains were found in the caves. The Tenarus entrance, specifically. They say that’s the reason the higher-ups insisted the tunnels be sealed off to the public.”
“Who spread the rumor?”
“Fuck if I know. Hearsay is a disease on this campus. Everyone thinks my sisters and I are responsible for some centuries-old feud, simply because a bunch of pompous fucks decided they wanted to pin the blame on someone. I guess kids who aren’t very attached to their namesake in Fury Hill are an easy target.”
My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth as I consider this. If they were considered a good target for political and ethical blame, I wonder what I would look like to the powers that be.
Someone they could use to get an Anderson onto Avernia soil. The people of Fury Hill are superstitious and vindictive enough to do it, especially when they believe the girl to be a problem anyway.
The fire they all think I started—maybe framing me as the culprit was just the beginning.
“What happened when you visited Quincy when she was a student?” I ask, propping my head on the wall.
“Nothing good.” He stares straight ahead, his face impassive, though his eyes hold something distant and sinister.
A chill runs over my skin, and I inch closer, wanting to stoke the fire within rather than watch whatever follows him around silently devouring him from the inside.
He grabs my chin, forcing me to look directly into his eyes. “I want you to know that I will do whatever I need to in order to keep you safe, Luce.Anythingat all, even if it’s something that pisses you off. You are the single most important person in my life. But you’re right. Not telling you things doesn’t help.”
I nod, averting my gaze from the intensity of his. There’s still a small inkling of something in the pit of my stomach that makes me feel insecure. Like abandonment is on the horizon. What would it take for him to leave again?
“Okay,” I say, because I know it’s what he wants.
Squeezing my jaw, he moves his head so we’re making eye contact again. “I’m not going anywhere.”
This time, I don’t reply. I just stare into those warm, deep brown eyes—the eyes I fell for when we were thirteen and he gave me that wooden box to keep my dog’s ashes in. The eyes anger fled when he was teaching me to drive and I’d stop for every critter crossing the road or get out to help them along.
Eyes that cut like shattered glass when he said he wasn’t coming to Avernia.
Shuffling my feet, I swallow. “I’m terrified that you’re lying again.”
The admission burns as it exits my mouth, but I need him to hear it. I need to say it. Otherwise, I’m afraid I won’t ever actually be able to move on. I can distract myself with a thousand other things and pretend I’m fine, but theterrorwill still exist.
Pain flashes in his gaze. He slides his hand behind my ear, threading his fingers through my hair, and tilts my head back. His kiss is electric, like rain and lightning mixed in one, and he spends a few minutes trying to convince me carnally.
It helps, but…
“I know there’s nothing I can say that will change your mind,” he whispers when he finally pulls away, rubbing my lip with his thumb. “But I mean it this time, okay? I’mhere, by your side, forever. I’d sooner kill myself than spend another second of this godforsaken life without you.”
My heart thumps slow and hard in my chest, swelling with each word even as my brain tries to ignore them.
