Page 98 of A Lesson in Obedience
Iwatched as River and Grayson sat on the couch, watching TV and occasionally glancing over towards the stairs. River was laying down with his back against the arm of the couch, his legs resting on top of Grayson’s thighs. Grayson doted on my brother as much as they both doted on Riley.
Most of the day had passed and it was dark outside now, letting me know that Riley had spent pretty much the entire Sunday in River’s room. From the little bit I’d overheard, she’d had conversations with her mom, Corrin and Beau. I felt her body move against mine when she came back to my bed. She hadn’t said anything, but there was something different about her. She went back to sleep quickly, so I didn’t think much of it. And I hadn’t really gotten the chance to ask since she’d gotten up, grabbed a breakfast bar and trapped herself in River’s room.
She’d witnessed something horrific yesterday and unfortunately, was also the cause of that incident. I didn’t know what that was like and I didn’t want to pretend like I could help her when I couldn’t. Ifshe wanted to be alone, then that was fair. It didn’t mean I had to fucking like it.
“You both have been rotting on this couch for hours,” I pointed out, sitting on the arm of the couch.
“I am recovering from an injury. And what else are we supposed to do while Riley is having her alone time?” River asked, reaching towards the coffee table for the remote.
He started changing the channels, so I grabbed the remote and threw it onto the adjacent chair. I sat on the coffee table, facing them both. “She might not know what to do, but this whole mess is getting far too fucked up. She dives into the coven tomorrow and I remember you—” I glanced at Grayson. “—offering those shadow skills to watch her.”
“I’ll do whatever keeps her safe.” Grayson crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back against the couch.
“I talked to Mateo earlier today and they’ll be on alert in the surrounding area. Not too close to cause suspicion but just enough. Corrin is with her, so she’ll have someone directly by her side. Ike is doing some digging on Chancellor Fowler’s old house. Based on what Mateo told me, that might be the place he had you take Riley.” I nodded over to Grayson.
“I’ve only even been in that room and the basement area that he kept the witches in. I was always in and out. I couldn’t even tell you what street it’s on or if it’s even in the surrounding cities. I would assume with how close his family ties are to the school that they have to be close enough.” He nodded at his own words as if the more he spoke, the more they made sense.
I reached out and patted his shoulder, continuing. “Jade will be keeping an eye on Riley’s mom. Despite Mateo being in charge now, I only really trust her with that task. She has a pretty vicious vendetta against Chancellor Fowler. I mean, we all do now.”
“Getting stabbed by the guy’s mother will do that to a person,” River offered, delicately sitting up. I narrowed my eyes at him and he waved me off. “I’m fine, okay. There is a little scar and some residualpain, but nothing I can’t just shrug off. Your caring makes me all tingly inside though, so keep it up.”
I rolled my eyes. “Now you—” I pointed at River, “need to lay low with what already happened and how eager dad is to get ahold of you.”
“I’m sorry, you want me to just let everyone else help my girlfriend while I what? Just sit on my ass?”
I rubbed my forehead. “No, River. The best thing you can do is not place yourself in a position that would put you in more trouble.”
“And what are you planning to do, hm?”
“I still have to teach classes, so I’ll keep an eye on her there and do my best to intercept dad. Riley is seemingly doing what she needs to based on Chancellor Fowler’s wants and needs, so I’ll just boost his ego by playing along. Riley has been doing a lot and it’s time we started pulling our weight.”
“Yet, you won’t let me,” River complained. “I don’t even know why I’m listening to you. It’s not like you can force me to stay put.”
“Hmph. I can’t, but it’s in your best interest. Just like instead of watching TV, we should work on your training some more. I really need to have a fucking talk with some of the mental magic teachers if your mind is this vulnerable.”
Grayson put his hands up between us. “Okay. We are all very on edge and determined to make sure our girl is taken care of. I don’t really enjoy sitting here and basically listening to you both shout about how much you love each other and love her because its fucking exhausting.”
I opened my mouth to protest his insinuation, but he wagged his finger at me.
“Oh no, we will get into those feelings of yours later, professor.” He gently moved River’s legs off of him and gave him his attention. “Right now, maybe your best bet is to just?—”
“How about I get into Chancellor Fowler’s head. Just keep his mind in check. I can do that just fine and he wouldn’t even know it’s me.”
“River…that’s a dangerous option. What about if dad…”
“I know how to infiltrate mental conversations, so the teachers taught me something in case you were wondering. Dad is really good at focusing on one thing but mentally doing something else. I wouldn’t even be near dad’s mind, just the words he lets float in the mental space while telepathically speaking. It’s just another safeguard for everything we are trying to do, that’s all.”
I worried my bottom lip but conceded. “Fucking fine. Can you do it from the house or is your telepathy not good with long range?” I asked, sarcastically.
River gave me his middle finger and the sound of a throat clearing had us all looking at the entryway. Riley gave each of us a small amount of eye contact before sighing and stepping further into the room.
“Hey, gorgeous. How are you feeling?” River asked, immediate concern in his voice.
She moved her braids over her shoulder and started picking at the ends. “Fine. I started and finished a book, so I guess that’s progress.”
“You’ve been tucked away up there for a while now,aking sinta,” Grayson said, his voice soft and soothing.
She gave him a stiff smile. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to ignore you guys. I needed to talk to my mom and then Corrin got my mind off things by telling me how much Jax fucked up her bedroom when she was gone but got over it by gushing about Mateo being way sexier now than they were before. It helped for the most part.” She let out a half-hearted laugh.
