Page 106 of Distortion
‘Help you get more comfortable.’
I look around at everyone else and nod a little uncertainly, gasping as I’m pulled backward and against his side and Mav picks up my legs and positions them on the couch next to me.
‘No one gave you a drink.’
Mav looks annoyed.
‘They did,’ I say quickly. ‘But I ... I didn’t know if I should ... After the night when they told me it was just juice ...’
I stop talking as his expression turns even more thunderous.
‘I’m sorry,’ I begin, not sure why he’s angry with me, but Blake hushes me.
‘You don’t have anything to be sorry for,’ he says. ‘Do you trust Mav?’
‘Yes.’
My answer is instant and I’m a little taken aback at myself. But I do mean it. I trust Mav to a point, more so than any of the others. Maybe even more than Shade. Mav was nice to me when the others weren’t and that counts for something.
Mav blinks at me and I get the sense that he’s just as surprised as I am. ‘You don’t have to worry that anyone here is going to do that to you again, okay? We’ve made sure everyone knows that you’re ours.’
Theirs?
My face must show something because he stutters a little and gets up. ‘I’ll make you a drink myself, okay?’
He leaves quickly and I find myself wondering what he meant by me being theirs.
I’m their assistant. Of course.
I tell myself I’m relieved. It’s odd that it feels more like disappointment.
What am I thinking? I have no experience with anything like this, except for the small things I gleaned from The Heath’s staff over the years and a romance book I found on the bookshelf in the common room once. It was a Viking one and I’d been enthralled by it, reading it every chance I got, hiding it in my room until it was finished and then reading it over again. It was sordid and exciting, and my young mind loved it.
Then one of the blanks caught me with it, and I was hauled in front of Stoke and interrogated in his office about where I got it from. It was confiscated and I was told that young ladies didn’t read that filth. And then I lost desserts for two weeks.
But I never forgot that book, or thethingsit talked about, the scenes between the Viking warrior and the Saxon woman he’d captured.
Maybe they were right at The Heath. Maybe that book is the sole reason I liked what Shade did upstairs earlier.
‘Where is Shade?’ I ask Blake, turning my head to find him watching me.
‘He’ll be along in a little while. He’s just making sure all the guys know that you’re to be treated with respect.’
‘Is it because you need my help in the lab?’ I ask. ‘Is that why you’re being nice?’
My question takes him aback.
‘Partly,’ he answers, and I smile at his honesty.
‘But also, I like you. I think you’re funny and interesting.’
But not beautiful, not desirable.
I block the traitorous thoughts as soon as I think them.I’ve never cared about those things before. Why should I now? It’s stupid. But my stomach sinks anyway.
Mav returns a minute later and hands me a glass filled with ice. A straw is sticking out of it.
‘It’s a mojito,’ he says as he hands it to me.
