Page 62 of Killer of the Bells
“Possibly, though I was never good at it. If I’m in the middle of a project, time slips away from me.”
“Um, I have to ask. How old is Gareth?”
“A lot older than he looks.” At my curious look, Vale elaborated. “I met him a few years after my incarceration and new life as a test subject. My captors never managed to get me to tell them anything about my work, but they were able to extract something from my DNA. Gareth was an unwitting test subject on loan from the military. He thought he was helping his country, but what he got was betrayal and a dose of something highly unstable that had killed dozens of men before him.”
“Is this Gareth’s backstory? I thought you said it was his to tell?” I asked.
“There’s more to it than that, brat, and once again, it’s part of my story too,” Vale said in an exasperated tone. “If I can’t tell it to the man I’m falling in love with, then who can I tell?”
My body went warm with pleasure from head to toe. “Please continue,” I said hurriedly, because if I fell prey to my emotions, The Cody would get her payment sooner than planned, and I wouldn’t get to learn everything about Vale’s backstory.
“Before I was so cheekily interrupted, I was going to say the experiment was ultimately considered a failure because Gareth was the only survivor in a test pool of hundreds. It didn’t help that he was uncontrollable as well. Either due to his stubborn nature or something in the concoction they pumped into him, Gareth never cracked under their brainwashing. The Dawn Initiative hated both of us because neither Gareth nor I were willing to fall in line with their plans. Eventually, Gareth and I managed to escape together. It’s a sore point for both of us, so please never mention it to Gareth.”
Since I could barely look at the man without losing my lunch, I agreed readily. “I promise, but you have to tell me why.” Vale’s eyes went shifty, so I added, “If you can’t tell the guy falling in love with you, then who can you tell?”
Hey, if Vale can half-ass his love confessions, then so can I, okay?
It seemed to work for Vale because his ears went red, and he took my hand in his before continuing. “We promised we’d get out together, but he believes I tried to go back on my word.”
“You didn’t abandon him.” I wouldn’t believe it even if Vale said so explicitly. As much as he bitched about Gareth, it was clear to me that Vale respected him. And since that was obviously a rare thing for him, I doubted Vale would betray him.
“No, I didn’t. I tried to stall some soldiers who caught us on our way out to give Gareth time to escape. He thought I planned to sacrifice myself, which is absurd, so he raged out and tore half the compound apart. He and I both learned a lot that day. One, don’t piss off Gareth, and two, the man can hold a grudge.”
“So, he really hates the Dawn Initiative, huh? I can understand that.”
“Obviously. We both do, but the grudge I’m referring to is toward me. Gareth never fails to let me know he thinks I’ll go off and try to get myself killed for him, which is the furthest thing from the truth. I’d have to care in order for that to be the case.”
“So, now I have to ask if you’re in love with Gareth,” I said, only half joking.
“Have you been paying attention at all? I’m not in love with anyone but you. I’ve never felt anything close to how I feel about you, Echo. Never. I would leave Gareth’s house if that’s what it took to convince you.”
Inside, I was doing a little twirl and bouncing around, shoutingHe loves me, he loves me, me, me, me!
I managed to keep it to myself, though, because, wow, things were moving fast. “Whoa, no need for that, Vale, sheesh. Don’t turn your life upside down for someone you just met, even if you both love each other. Even I know that.”
Vale completely ignored my shitty second attempt at sharing my feelings with him and retorted, “No, you’ll just follow them alone into the woods. That’s much better.”
“Are you talking about you or Lyle right now?”
Vale scowled.
I changed the subject. “So, after escaping, you and Gareth became fast friends, sang songs, and wove friendship bracelets into the sunset together?”
Vale ignored my sass and gave me a real answer. “Not exactly. I was… unwilling to help him on his crusade against theDawn Initiative. I wanted everyone to leave me the fuck alone, and Gareth refused to let me. Our relationship mostly involves threats, bribery, and petty retaliation. Don’t ever piss him off. He’s a vengeful fuck. I thank my lucky stars he never decided to get revenge on me for trying to sacrifice myself. Supposedly.”
“Supposedly,” I nodded. “Consider me warned. Is there anything else you wanted to tell me?”
“I want to tell you anything you want to know,” Vale said simply. “I want you to feel safe with me.” His ears were a vibrant red at that point, and he wasn’t looking at me at all anymore.
“I do feel safe with you. Probably because you keep refusing to kill me even though you’ve got that curse thingy going for you.”
Vale mouthedcurse thingyand gave me another ghost smile.
I continued, saying, “I’m going to take you at your word about telling me anything I want to know. You’re fascinating, and I’m going to be incredibly nosy now because I’ve officially decided to stop trying to get you to kill me. Learning more about you will help distract me from the bad place.”
“If that’s what it takes to keep you from doing away with yourself, I’m happy to oblige.”
“Um…” I faltered because I didn’t quite know how to put the ugly truth. “As magical as you and your dick are, you know that being in a relationship with you isn’t going to fix me, right? A lot happened to me to get me here, and it isn’t going to magically fix itself.”
