Page 58 of Breakaway
"Something?" I ask.
Reese gives me a small smile. "I don't know. I never really asked her about it, and it's not like I wanted to know about the letters people sent wishing that I would die, you know?"
"They wrote that to you?" I ask, nostrils flaring, face heating, shadows ready to go to war for the injustices done to our soulbond.
Reese chuckles, her smile more genuine now as she pats my chest. "Of course they did. They'd write it on my socials, too. People can be ridiculously cruel, especially when they have the armor of a screen to spew their vitriol behind. Some people are just mean, and they're fueled by the validation that other mean people give them. It's a vicious cycle and one I'd like to have no part in. That's why I have Mauve, who has people to deal with it. I haven't seen a death threat since I was twenty-one."
Well, I'm fucking livid. Thankfully, Isha is more on top of it than I am. She and Kolos both are, and I'm wondering if my skills as a leader haven't been struggling recently since the overwhelming need to care for Reese has taken over my every waking thought.
"I'll go meet with Mauve and see if she has access to all of those still. Kolos is going to go through the apartment again. It's probably for the best if we stay planetside tonight."
Kolos's face screws up, obviously not in agreement with Isha about where they should spend their night. Before he voices an objection, his head cocks to the side, his eyes flashing over to where Reese is sitting as still as stone beside me. He snorts, the animosity towards sleeping on Earth gone and replaced with his need to tease.
"Oh, I see. Guess we'll stay planetside all night." He gives me a pointed look. "All night."
"Well, I'd imagine," I say, brows pulling together. "No point in going to sleep for part of the night just to come back."
For the briefest of moments, Kolos looks disappointed in me. It is, without a doubt, the most absurd thing that has ever happened to me in my life. Kolos, the male who takes nothing in life seriously and makes jokes out of everything, is disappointed in me? I'm almost tempted to ask him why, but Isha ushers the two of them out of the kitchen area before I get a chance.
"Check with Marr to see if the Lokans are good with us staying with them tonight," Isha says, holding up her hand in Kolos's face as he opens his mouth to say something. "If either of you needs anything, let us know. I won't be back until tomorrow, and will try to keep Kolos just as long."
She gives Kolos a pointed look, and he narrows his eyes at her before nodding.
"The two of you have the whole ship to yourselves," Kolos calls over his shoulder. Isha huffs in annoyance since she's still trying to bodily push him down the hall and toward the exit of the ship. Kolos raises his voice, the glee in it almost manic. "All to yourselves, Zill. Please, for the love of the gods, put yours and your shadows' few intelligent thoughts together and understand what we're saying."
"You're only going to make it worse when he figures it out," Isha huffs, her voice much quieter than Kolos's, but I can hear the words all the same.
My eyes go wide as I cut a glance over at Reese, who has her face in her hands. The parts I can see are a bright red that's been muted by the makeup she's still wearing from her interview. Her shoulders are shaking in what looks like cries, but seeing as I think I've pieced together what Kolos had been implying,it's much more likely that she is laughing at my innocence more than anything else.
"Is it so strange that a male might actually think his friends are just thinking of their comfort when they speak of staying planetside?" I ask.
I'm attempting to hide how much enjoyment I get out of amusing Reese with my inability to pick up very well on sex related topics.
Reese keeps her face in one of her hands as she swats at me with the other. She's given up on trying to keep her laugh tucked down and trapped inside of her, and is instead letting it all out now. The sweet sound of it fills the kitchen area and makes my heart swell.
"I'm not laughing at you," Reese says, trying and failing to silence the sounds.
When she finally looks up at me, her eyes are wet with tears from how hard she's been laughing at my predicament. I lift my hands, brushing away the moisture before it has a chance to ruin her makeup. I have no idea how long she wants to wear it, but she enjoys looking sparkly and polished. Who am I to deny her such fun?
"I don't mind you laughing at me," I tell her, my voice dipping lower, my hands staying on either side of her face. I've moved closer to her without realizing it, and she doesn't seem to mind. "I'm sure this is nowhere near the last time it will happen."
"That makes me sound mean," Reese pouts.
"I don't think you have a mean bone in your body," I tell her, head dipping lower, lips brushing against hers. "You know I will always keep you safe, right?"
"Of course I do," Reese says, her brows tugging together, the glitter on her lashes blurring with our faces this close. "Zill,I trust you with everything I have. That's actually why I asked them to leave tonight."
"You asked them to leave?" I ask. "And here I thought they were just being good friends."
"They probably would've done it anyway," Reese says, lifting her hand and pressing it to my shoulder. At first, I think she just wants to touch me, but then she starts pushing. I lean away from her, giving her the space she wants, and I'm greeted with another soft laugh. "Zill, get out of the booth so we can go to the bedroom."
"Oh," I say, and then, because it takes me just a little too long to piece together what that means, I add another "Oh!" and scramble from the booth. My shadows even manage to keep from clinging to Reese for too long because they know soon enough we'll get her all to ourselves.
"You're so cute," she tells me as she slides out, taking my offered hand and not even startling when my shadows rush her.
She has to be used to it by now, because I don't even tell them to slow down or act less desperate. It's a battle I can no longer win, and one I thankfully don't have to fight anymore since Reese has grown accustomed to how my shadows act.
"We don't have to do this tonight," I tell her as she interlocks our fingers. She looks at me with one raised brow, and my face heats. "Just, if you didn't want to because of everything that's happening with the stalker. I understand if you don't want to."
