Page 72 of Anathema
Weallseparatedoncewe had reached the exit of the Twin City A-Mill. Dean was going to take Madison home, and he most likely intended to stay the entire night—what was left of it—catering to her needs as she processed the events of the past thirty-six hours and the encounter with Adrian. She was still shaken up and hadn’t spoken a word to anyone since Drake left. I could see the hurt in Alexis’s eyes as she watched Madison curl into Dean like a tortured animal seeking refuge from their abuser.
Atlas and Chyler limped their way back to their vehicle. He had already told me they would return to Chyler’s old apartment and stay around for a while. She wasn’t ready to leave her sisters in a time like this, and I knew it comforted them both to return home to the city finally.
After everyone else had left, Alexis and I stood by my truck, and I gripped her chin between my fingers. She had been avoiding looking at me for the past fifteen minutes.
“What’s eating at you?” I asked, rubbing my thumb along her blood-crusted chin, the dried flakes falling to the ground like confetti.
A dark chuckle fell from her lips as she gripped my wrist and pulled my hand away from her face.
“All this time…” Tears started sliding down her dirt-covered cheeks, leaving trails behind. “They left me in the dark, kept secrets from me, and withheld information. How could I have not noticed? How could I have been so blind?”
“We all have our secrets, Lex. I’m sure they did it to protect you.” I tried to reassure her. I knew she was in just as fragile a state as Madison. Both of them had been through too much tonight.
“They were supposed to care for me. You don’t keep secrets from those you care about. The ones you supposedly love.” She began shouting, her words echoing in the open space surrounding us.
I didn’t know what to say next. I kept my fair share of secrets from Alexis and loved her—more than she’ll ever accept and understand. I had my reasons for not being upfront and honest about everything, and I am sure the same went for Madison and Chyler.
All I could do was sigh and hold out my hands to her as a sign of submission.
“Don’t. I don’t need your sympathy, Derek.Fuck.” Alexis pulled away from me, moving to get into the truck. “Take me home.” I didn’t bother asking if she wanted me to stay with her—or not. I’d leave that decision up to her when we reached the apartment.
The entire drive, she didn’t utter a word to me. I opened my mouth several times, and everything I had to say died in my throat before I could get it out. Nothing seemed like the right thing to say.
I should be mad at Alexis for getting herself into that situation in the first place, for making me panic for her safety, for lying to me and not telling me what she had been up to with Anathema. But the more I thought about my words for her, the more I realizedthat I was partly to blame, too. Neither of us was innocent in the grand scheme of things. We both fucked up in our own way.
If I had spent just a little more time getting to know her instead of us constantly fucking around with each other, I could have figured this all out sooner. Protected her. My mind raced a thousand miles a minute as we pulled up to her apartment, and I parked along the curb at the front of the building.
Even though every fiber of my being wanted to, I didn’t leave my seat as she exited the truck and turned to look at me.
“Well?” She raised a dark brow, and I furrowed mine in confusion. “Are you staying or leaving?” Alexis sighed, shut the door, and headed towards the main entrance. She didn’t need to tell me twice. As if I were a dog without a bone, I jumped out, locked the door behind me, and followed her into the building.
Like fuck I was going to leave when she gave me the option to stay.
Did this mean that we were okay? That our relationship was still intact? She never said anything indicating otherwise, but a nagging part of me said she was over this—over us.
“Derek.” Alexis sighed again, turning around and shoving me up against the stairwell wall. “Stop thinking. Just stop. I can hear your thoughts a mile away.” Her hands fisted in my shirt as I stared down at her. Was I really that readable?
“Yes, you are. So stop it. I’ve had a rough night—day, whatever, and the last thing I need is to stand here and reassure you of this—” Without room to pause, her mouth crashed onto mine, and her tongue shoved its way through my lips—a long and deep kiss.
Pulling back, she returned her ice-blue gaze to mine and smirked.
“I may be wounded, and the world more fucked up than ever. But I sure as fuck know that I want you now more than I did before. You risked everything to save me from Adrian and Anathema. Something I believed that I never deserved in the least. So, if you think I am going to let my pretty boy go after all that? You’d be wrong. So very,very wrong.” Her eyes dropped to my mouth, and she bit her bottom lip, dragging me the rest of the way up the stairs by my shirt.
I love my feral, pretty viper. She always knows how to take my breath away.
Chapter 31
Alexis
Pissedoffwasagood place to start. Let’s add fuming, furious, and enraged to the mix for a little extra zing. This cluster-fuck of a day was over, and I didn’t want to relive another second of it. I didn’t know how long I was down in those tunnels and didn’t want to. Both Madison and Chyler had some explaining to do, and I would eventually give them the time to do it because, by the end of it all, I was going to know every single piece of the truth, the secrets, and the lies ending now.
They can’t hide anything from me anymore. I’m not a child. Just because I am the youngest of us doesn’t mean I get to be made to look and feel like a fool. I don’t need their protection anymore. I could take care of myself.
Yes, I got myself into a fucked up situation this time, but all things considered, their secrets and lies are what landed me here inthe first place. If I had known all of this about Adrian, Anathema… everything. I wouldn’t have been so easily sucked in.
Fuck, and Madison…
I may be angry with her for all of this, but I gave Adrian what he wanted. Access to her, and look what became of that. There's always a slim chance that she might not fully, emotionally recover from this… and Dean? What the fuck was going on between her and him?
