Page 113 of A Drop of Anguish
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We walk slowly for a few minutes until the noise of the forest suddenly appears. Birds chirp, and branches rustle in the wind.Candice,I hear someone whisper.
Jarron stops me and grips my forearm. My partial tattoo warms, and I suck in a breath. “Can you feel it?” he asks.
I nod but look over my shoulder to uncover the source of the whisper.
No one else comments on it. Is it in my imagination?
“If anything happens and we’re separated, you run far away from that feeling. Do you understand?”
I swallow but agree.
“I’ve cast a silence spell, so we can talk for now. Keep it down, though.” Jarron releases my arm and continues his march through the forest, stepping through bushes and over fallen branches.
My group of friends gather around me, with Jarron up front, leading us forward.
“So, we gonna talk about that tattoo?” Thompson asks.
I eye him without turning his direction, arms crossed.
“We gonna talk about that offer Jarron made? What did you ask him for?”
His eyebrows rise, but his expression remains casual. “That’s been bothering you?”
I mean, only for the last few minutes, but yes.
There’s certainly a part of me that’s annoyed that he’d tell Jarron his secret but not me—the person he’s been developing a relationship with. There’s more to it, though.
“Maybe I’m not a fan of being blatantly used as a bargaining chip.”
“Candice.” He says it like I’m a child making an absurd claim.
I pinch my lips together. I watch the trees closely as we pass them, trying not to get too lost. I’m certain it’s a hopeless cause, though.
He grabs my upper arm and pulls me to a stop. “That’s not fair.”
Lola and Janet stare for a moment but then continue, apparently deciding this is a conversation we need to have on our own.
I rip my arm from his grasp. “Isn’t it? You obviously have some kind of agenda. I’ve known that for a long time, but it becomes something different when you’re keeping things from me while making promises to someone I care about.”
“I have not and will not do anything that is not in your best interest. I thought we trusted each other by now.”
“How can I possibly trust you, Thompson, when I don’t understand your motives?”
That’s it. That’s the core of what’s been bothering me.
“You want something from Jarron, I guess? That’s all I can figure. But I don’t know what. And if I don’t knowwhat, then how do I know how far you’d go? Would you lie to me to make Jarron happy? Would you manipulate me? Him? If you’re only my friend for what you can gain from my relationship with Jarron, then what if someone else comes around that can do whatever you want from Jarron? Will you betray me? Or does this relationship mean something to you? Until I know those things, then no, I cannot trust you and we are not truly friends.”
He doesn’t move. Doesn’t blink for several moments.
“Candice, I—”
“Look!” a high-pitched voice calls from up ahead.
Thompson and I simultaneously whip our heads in the direction of the voice. I rush forward to catch up through the trees to find Lola and Janet staring at a worn path and a rocky hill. Between a few of the loose stones is a small opening.
The magic simmers, pulls taught as Jarron touches it.
