Page 119 of Indulge
Rowan nods. “Phoenix.”
“When?” she asks.
Rowan checks his watch. “Four hours.”
And then it clicks. He’s pissed she never went to him last night. He probably thinks she was with me. But, truth is, she shut herself off from us both.
I watch her, every muscle screaming not to reach for her again.
She doesn’t realize she’s the reason I’m agreeing to any of this, the reason I’ll pretend, lie, and fight to keep control.
I’ll fix everything in the shadows, and by the time we land in Phoenix, the ghosts will be buried. And then we will kill some more while we’re there.
At least, that’s the plan.
Maybe it is good that Bella sees this side of us.
But, if Rowan thinks I’m stepping aside…
He’s dead wrong.
And I don’t think I’m going to let him push either of us away either.
54
ROWAN
The flight to Phoenix is the longest four hours of my life.
No one speaks.
Reggie stares out the window, jaw tight, eyes hollow, like he’s already halfway gone.
Bella sits between us, arms folded, pretending to scroll her phone. The glow lights up her face, but she hasn’t touched the screen in twenty minutes.
Every so often, her leg brushes mine, and the air shifts.
The hum of the engines fills the silence that should’ve been a conversation.
None of us knows what to say anymore. Every word feels like a spark waiting to hit gasoline.
I glance at her, at the faint bruised shadows beneath her eyes from another sleepless night, and all I can think about is how wrong it feels that we’re sitting here pretending we’re fine.
That we aren’t all breaking apart.
Becivil.
What a joke.
Because every time Reggie exhales, Bella flinches like the sound alone breaks her.
And every time she looks away from him, I feel like the villain for noticing.
I clear my throat. “We land in twenty.”
“Great,” Reggie mutters without looking up.
Bella shifts in her seat. “So what exactly are we walking into?”
