Page 73 of Inside the Maelstrom: Part One
He froze, his eyes raking over my face for something—answers, probably. “What do you mean?”
I chewed my lip, slumping down on his bed. “She wants to go on without us. Otto says we’ve fucked it up beyond repair. I want you to stay with her, make sure she’s safe. Crazy knows crazy, and there's something off about this Nemo guy. If he is at the end of this wild goose chase, I don’t want her to meet him alone. And if he’s not, I don’t want her to be alone then either.”
Evan continued to stare at me silently, and then his face shut down. He turned on his heel and went over to his guns, pulling one apart and cleaning it silently. He didn’t say anything else, and I wondered if I should leave.
When he moved onto the second gun, he finally spoke. “I thought she’d go home.”
I snorted. “She’s stubborn. She’s come this far, and Otto said he’d fund the last of her trip if that's what she wanted. He’s firmly Team Aviva, but he’ll stay with us regardless. With me. I don’t think he’ll forgive me, but he’ll stay out of duty.”
Sadness washed over me at the thought. I was so fucking selfish. Ruining what I had with Aviva on purpose was the extent of my selflessness, and look how that had turned out.
Evan waved a hand. “Otto is angry, but he loves you. He’ll forgive you eventually.”
“He might love her more. At least, he could have, if I hadn’t, you know...”
He sighed heavily but continued the reflexive task of cleaning his weapon. I’d seen him do it so many times over the years that I knew it was almost like yoga for mercenaries. Centered the mind, but you know, without the spandex-covered camel toes.
He looked up, catching my eyes and drilling a hole in my skull with his glare. “I’ll talk to Aviva. You guys have coerced her into enough shit. She is capable of making her own decisions—she’s not a damn child.”
“I’d fucking hope not, considering you had your dick in her twelve hours ago.”
He ignored me, though his lip curled in distaste. “If she wants me to stay, I’ll do it for her. I don’t need your money, Hendrick Kenley. You don’t need to buy me to assuage your guilty conscience. Now get the fuck out of my room.”
I stood, stepping toward the door, but I couldn’t help but give him one last piece of parting advice. “You’d be good for her, Evan. Don’t make my mistake and ruin it because you’re afraid.” I shut the door gently behind me.
I wanted to find a bar and drown myself in numbing liquor. But that would mean facing people, so instead I’d go upstairs and drink my way through the minibar. Sampson still wasn’t talking to me, and I hadn’t seen Otto since he chewed me a new one.
When I got to the room, it was empty. I had no idea where Sampson was, but it didn’t matter. This room was still too claustrophobic, even without the heat of his anger stealing the oxygen.
I grabbed the bottle of sake from the minibar, and walked back out of the room. I needed to get out of here and breathe. Skipping the elevator, I took the fire escape. It didn’t appear to be alarmed, so I headed up. I was pretty sure I could get onto the rooftop of this place.
At the top floor, there was a locked door preventing access to the roof. Yeah, fuck that. I lifted my foot and aimed my designer biker boot at the bottom half of the door, kicking it hard. They might be made of Italian leather, but they were still shit kickers.The door slammed open, and I grinned. I was probably going to have to pay for that later but I’d consider it money well spent.
The roof was a mish-mash of cooling units and clear blue sky. I sucked in a breath, and felt it fill my lungs. Walking to the edge of the building, I looked down. My stomach revolted at the height, but I made my feet hold me there, reveling in the instinctual fear. If I fell from here, I would just be an unrecognizable stain on the sidewalk. It would be painless.
Sitting down, I hung my legs over the side. My heart thundered as my brain tried to drag me away from the edge. Well, most of my brain—that niggling little part that was the monkey on my back taunted me, telling me to just throw myself over. I wouldn’t, though. I’d been to enough therapy to know that voice was bullshit. Besides, I’d never do that to Otto. He’d never recover if he had to scrape my body off the sidewalk.
I opened the sake bottle and put it to my lips, dragging down the alcohol and letting it burn through my system. I watched the boats come in and out, watched the Ferris wheel spin around and around constantly without ever stopping.
“What are you doing out here, Drix?”
I jumped at the sound of Viva’s voice. I looked over my shoulder at her, and my heart clenched so tightly I thought I was having a heart attack. I should say something mean, send her away, but I just couldn’t do it again.
“Drinking. Not throwing myself off the edge, you don’t have to worry.” I paused. “How’d you find me?”
She shrugged. “Otto has a tracker on your phone. It said you were here somewhere. He went to the bar, but I had a suspicion you’d be up here.”
“Crazy knows crazy, I guess.”
She huffed a humorless laugh, sitting down beside me. “You’re not wrong, Hendrick Kenley.”
She didn’t look mad, just really, really sad. I scooched closer to her, so I could grab her in case she tried to throw herself off the building. Not so I could save her, but so she’d take me with her.
I passed her the bottle, and she drank without hesitation. “Sorry I’m an asshole.”
She shrugged. “It’s not like it’s a surprise that you're a dickhead.” She looked up at me. “I forgive you.”
I swallowed hard. “But?”
