Page 22 of Distortion
His cough has my eyes finding his face and trying to interpret his expression. But it’s not overt enough for me.
‘What the fuck, Pete? You know this room is off limits when I’m in here.’
‘I know, Commodore, I’m sorry. We found this girl downstairs.’
Mav is Commodore. Shade and Blake must be the Captain and the?—
But my thought is cut short when, to my horror, Pete grabs me by the back of the neck and thrusts me in front of Mav.
My body locks, and my fingers straighten and widen at my sides involuntarily. I keep it together, but it’s hard and I only just manage it.
‘She gave us some cock and bull story about being a Novelle. Want me to throw her out, or do you want to?’
‘Let her go.’
The hand leaves me at once, and I stare at the mirror in front of me, not looking at either of them as I try to get my breathing under control.
There’s no sound, but something must scare Pete because he’s suddenly backing toward the door. His hands are up in front of him.
‘I’m sorry, Commodore. We didn’t know.’
‘This is Daisy,’ I hear Mav say. ‘She lives here. Make sure all the others know and remind them to keep their mouthsshut about it. And if I see anyone touching her, I’ll break his fucking fingers.’
Mav
Pete leavesand I don’t spare the dumbass another thought. The girl in front of me is still standing ramrod straight, chest heaving. Her hands are clenched so tightly her knuckles are white. She doesn’t speak.
‘Are you okay?’ I ask, not sure why I’m not just telling her to get out.
It’s not like she’s freaking out or anything. At least, I don’t think she is. There’s no tantrum the way Shade described her outbursts. She isn’t crying or screaming, and yet, I know she’s not okay.
She blinks at the mirror and her eyes find mine for a few seconds before they move again.
‘Yes,’ she says very quietly.
‘What happened?’
I’m not sure why I care. I’m in the middle of a workout. Usually, I don’t stop, not for anyone or anything. But right now, weirdly, making sure she’s all right is more important.
‘Nothing happened.’
I frown. Why is she lying?
I notice she’s shivering.
‘Can I go to my room, please?’
My frown deepens. ‘You don’t have to ask me if you can go to your room,’ I rumble.
She nods and turns around, walking out as quickly as she can without breaking into a run.
I stick my head out the door and watch her go down the hall and up the next set of stairs.I don’t get her at all, I think as I pick up the bar and restart my set.
After a few minutes, my thoughts are still on Daisy and I’m angry that Pete touched her like that. My feelings surprise me. But it must just be because she’s Shade’s little sister, and he’s one of my best friends. Of course I’d want to keep Daisy safephysically. But I also can’t get the way she looked at me out of my head, how her eyes were wide and unguarded. So different from how Shade talked about her and how she was earlier when we met.
I abandon my workout after a few more minutes, my head not in it anymore.
I leave the gym and go upstairs, but instead of my room, I go into Blake’s. I know he’s not there. He’s probably in the lab or at wrestling.
