Page 99 of A Lesson in Obedience
“And what did your mom say?” I asked, getting up from the coffee table and walking towards her.
“She was more concerned with how I was. Then yelled about how messed up Teresa has always been and she hates herself for being happy that she’s gone, but her heart hurt that I had to be the one to…” Her voice trailed off and she shook her head, moving one of her braids from her face. “I fucked up, I know that. I need to just keep this dampener on, so I don’t create more of a mess.”
“What? Riley, no. What did you expect to happen? She was coming after all of you.” River tilted his head to the side.
She gave a small shrug. “I could have just broken a bone, something simple. I didn’t have to do…that.” Riley placed her hands on either side of her head and let out a heavy sigh. “Anyway, you guys sure have been busy planning things it seems.”
“Professor St. James has been planning while we have just been listening.” Grayson slung his arm over the back of the couch.
“Hm, well don’t bother with any of it. I would rather you guys just stay away from it all.”
I furrowed my brow. “That is really hard when we’re in it. Even if we didn’t know you, our dad is still very much involved.”
She fiddled with the ends of her long sleeve shirt. “Your dad will stop messing with me and all of you if we just, I don’t know, keep a distance. I can move back in with my mom and I’ll have Corrin and Mateo and everyone else. It’s not a big deal. You don’t insert yourselves in things and everyone is better off.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” River pressed, getting up from the couch.
“I can figure this out on my own.”
“No one is asking you to,” River argued, his voice raising.
She kept her eyes on him, but they were becoming glassy. “No one is asking you to dothis. Any of this. You are asking to get hurt, to lean into his threats rather than run the other way and let me handle this.”
I grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look at me. Her brown eyes were so beautiful in her obvious sadness. It was odd to look at it that way. “His threats are from a desperate man and men like that have weaknesses. He dropped nearly everything the minute he realized he could have you back. No matter how much power he thinks he has, you are his weakness.”
There was a part of me that wanted to say that she might be oneof my weaknesses, but it didn’t feel like the time to confess something like that. I didn’t even know if I believed it. I really thought the only thing I would ever wholeheartedly care about was River, but that was a heavy miscalculation on my part.
“You actually want to risk a lot for me? What about your mental state?” She looked at River. “Your parents?” She glanced at Grayson. “And we both know you care about your brother and there might not be an option for choosing both sides anymore.” She placed her eyes back on me.
I licked my lips, pushing my glasses up when they’d slid a little too far down my nose. “It is quite easy to care about two people at once. You always have a choice, but in your case, ending someone else’s life to defend your own was a necessary means and any idea of choosing something else wasn’t a priority, but for me, thereisa choice and I choose to care about you both. There is no other choice. Thatismy only option.”
It was almost like she stopped breathing for a moment, and her fingers touched her necklace.
“My mental state is fine, baby. But if you’re that concerned I’ll let Asher torture me with more mental exercises,” River said, coming up and caressing her cheek.
Grayson sidled up next to him. “I’ll see if Mateo can delegate some wolves to watch over my parents. I think it might be nice for my dad to chat with some shifters.”
“Why are you so against this now? You didn’t mind the mild planning and discussions before.” I raised one of my eyebrows, suspiciously.
She pressed her lips together, giving us a tiny, forced smile. “I’m just in my head, that’s all.” There was a small moment like she wanted to say something more, but she pushed it away. “Just clue me in on whatever tomorrow morning. I’m just going to go to bed.” She turned away after giving us each a quick kiss on the cheek.
I watched her get up the stairs and immediately started to follow her.
“So, we aren’t doing mental exercises?” River asked, but I ignored him.
The door was ajar so I let myself in. She was on the floor with her back to the bed. Beau was curled up on the comforter, his head resting against the side of the bed so he could look at her.
“You want to tell me what’s going on?”
“What do you mean?”
I got down on the floor and sat next to her. “You were slightly off when you got back into bed last night, so I would love to know how checking on your dog caused that.”
She brought her knees to her chest. “We said no more secrets…”
“I’m so happy you remembered that.” The sarcasm in my voice rolled off my tongue.
“Chancellor Fowler was here last night.” She spoke directly to her knees, never giving me any eye contact.
