Page 63 of The Magic of Betrayal
"I'm sorry, but this is what you need, and they can’t help you. Things are going to change, and you need to learn." And in the same motion Larson had done, another portal opened in the air.
"No, no, let me GO!" Saige screeched, her nails drawing blood up and down Bram's arms, but he wasn't even flinching. He had a smile on his face and hearts in his eyes.
"Let her go!" Kai.
"I'll fucking kill you." Cam.
"I'm going to melt your brain from the inside and watch it pour out of your ears and nose." Fischer.
Wait. What?My head snapped to look at him and holy shit, this was bad. His voice was cold, detached, dead.
"Sorry guys." Bram waved and stepped back into the portal.
"Let me go, Bram, please! Don’t do this to me!" Saige screamed, her body flickering away before our eyes.
She'd just vanished from view when something came flying back out of the portal, landing on the ground by my feet. Then the portal was gone and our bodies all hit the floor, released from whatever hold Larson and then Bram had put on us.
Groaning, I pushed myself up onto my knees and looked to see what had been cast out of the demon realm and I could've thrown up when I saw it. The tether. The pentagram necklace, broken into two pieces and completely black. My hand shook slightly as I picked it up and straightened, turning to the guys. "Her neckla—"
Crunch.Pain exploded through my face and I dropped the necklace so I could grab my nose which was no doubt broken. My eyes watered from the pain and blood soaked the front of my shirt and hands.
"Shit," I grunted, and flicked my hands to fling the blood off.
I deserved that.
Looking up, I expected to see Cam standing there, but my black heart stopped beating when my blurry vision registered that it was Fischer towering over me with a mixture of fury and disgust. His breathing was ragged and his midnight black eyes penetrating, then I felt that tickle in my head.
"Don't." The last thing I needed was him in my fucking head right now.
He pushed further and I winced as I tried to fortify my mental shields against him, but he was insanely powerful in this state and he smashed them with hardly any effort. My memories were flying through my head so quickly, everything starting from the time we got the assignment from Larson.
Khol offering me the assignment, me accepting. Operation oldies. My jealousy of Saige. My insecurities and vulnerability. My anger. The warehouse. My... feelings for Fischer. Me texting Khol, talking to him on the phone, me finding the picture in her house. The suspicion. The lies. Larson ordering me to get involved with her. Me negotiating a personal mission for Cam. The garden. The attraction that was real, that I'd tried to deny. Me pulling away from her. Everything. Fischer saw all of it. Then he recoiled from my psyche as though he'd been burned.
"Fischer, I didn't mean to—"
"Yes. Everything you've done since we got here was because you meant to," he sneered. "We" —he motioned between us— "are done."
I opened my mouth to say something, anything, but all that came out was a choking sound that I didn't even think I was capable of.What does he mean we're done? Our friendship? Our fucking? Both?
"Just listen... you don't understand, Fish, just sit down and we can talk." I shook my head, trying to process everything, but he just laughed. A deep, dark, malevolent laugh that sent a chill down my spine.
"Now he wants to talk," he muttered, continuing to put distance between us. My chest was tight, I felt like I couldn't get a full breath, but I reached out to him regardless.
"Do not touch me. You're a selfish bastard. You took that side job with hopes of being promoted. Larson fed you compliments, called you son, and you fucked all of us over with stars in your eyes. But what, Sloane? You didn't feel dirty enough about being a liar until he ordered you to 'work your way into a relationship with her, just like the others'? And what did you do next, Sloane? You fucked with both of us less than an hour later, you had your hands all over her body! You make me sick!" Fischer roared, his breathing labored and I felt like I was going to puke.
"What the fuck did you just say?" Cam growled, stalking over to me, electricity crackling between his fingers.
"You touched her because you were ordered to?" Kai began prowling behind him toward me.
"It wasn't like that! Fuck!" I shouted, running my hands through my hair, not caring that I'd just covered my head in my own blood.
"I have a secret to tell you, Sloane," Fischer whispered, his eyes burning me from the inside out. "Those feelings, the ones you felt for me, the ones you struggled with in your memories? The ones you couldn't make sense of?” He sneered at me. “It's love, you motherfucker."
"Love?" I choked, shaking my head.
"That's right. You love me, Sloane. You're in love with me. But want to know something else? You're also in love withher.So how does it feel, now knowing that you just betrayed two people who you love and two others who you almost love just as much? Must be a record, two loves lost on the same day you realize you’re in love with them."
My back hit the wall and I sank to the floor, my legs spread out in front of me.Love? I'm in love? With FischerandRed?My throat tightened and my heart was pounding in my ears, blood running down my face. I raised a hand and wiped at my cheek, looking at my fingers for several moments before realizing that there wasn't any blood on them. But there were tears.
