Page 46 of Eternal

I roll my eyes. “You could have said you were coming. How the hell did you find where I was anyway?”

“Freya, you wouldn’t even call me. Did you not think I would come looking for you? Besides, when we finally did get a hold of you, there were people to track your location, but we only got the town you were in. We saw you in a shop with Soren and then followed you. I got your address from your license plate,” Serena explains arms are crossed over her chest.

She’s pissy right now, but not as bad as Soren is after learning his shit isn’t as locked down as he was hoping. Thankfully the tension is broken with the announcement of dinner being served. Soren drags me by the elbow into the dining room and sits at the head of the table after pulling out a chair for me to sit next to him, on his right.. Serena and Abe sit across from me.

“You remember dad’s birthday is in like two weeks, right?” Serena questions over the dinner Luci had served us.

I swallow hard. I’ve been trying to avoid this subject for a while. Soren stills to my right.

“Yeah. I know. I’m not sure if I’ll be there,” I say, almost whispering.

“What do you mean? You have to be there. It’s his 50th birthday.” Serena gapes at me.

“I know, Serena. It’s just--”

“We will rearrangeourschedules to be there.” Soren cuts me off, putting his hand on my leg, trying to calm me.

More like he will rearrange his schedule, but that’s beside the point.

Serena sits back in her chair, satisfied with that answer. Silence falls over us as we eat our dinner. Soren carefully watches Abe while Abe pins Soren with a harsh stare. It’s like they’re having a dick-measuring contest.

I clear my throat, reaching for my wine after I finish my plate. “So, when are you guys leaving?”

“We are leaving tomorrow morning. We just had to find you and make sure you were okay,” Abe replies, drinking his wine.

I nod. “So I won’t be seeing you guys tomorrow?”

Abe shakes his head but doesn't say anything else.

Serena frowns and tosses her glare at Abe, who is utterly immune to it at this point. I excuse myself to the bathroom.

The bathroom door swings open and shuts again quickly, causing me to jump out of my skin. I must’ve forgotten to lock it.

“Jesus Christ, I thought they were going to pull their dicks and rulers out,” Serena mutters, leaning against the locked door.

I giggle, “I did too.”

“Freya, are you okay? Like actually okay?” Serena asks me with scrutinizing eyes.

“I promise, I am okay.” I look at my smile in the mirror and then back at her.

“Why didn’t you have a phone, and why were you so fucking weird over the phone?”

“Soren said he needed to get me a new one for safety reasons. He’s just being paranoid, I guess. When you called, I was in the bath, and Soren was standing there while I was on the phone,” I explain, “It’s just been… different. Like he’s constantly on the defensive to protect some sort of secret he keeps. I mean, today was the most I have seen him in a week. A week, Serena! I went a week without even seeing him. He wouldn’t even join me in bed most nights. And then last night, he magically reappeared, then made me spill my guts about Tristan, so now he knows about that,” I vent.

“Wait, wait, wait. He didn’t know about Tristan until last night?” She holds her hands up, trying to slow me down and reverse.

“No. There just wasn’t a good time to tell him.” I adjusted my ring thoughtfully.

“Did you tell him his last name?” Serena stares.

“Yes. And it feels like I told Soren to just kill him.”

Serena’s eyes widened. “Freya, you know what that means, right? That means he’s gonna find the motherfucker. I hope he cuts his dick off and makes him choke on it.” She sounds giddy over the torture of Tristan.

Her and her obsession with cutting a guy’s dick off and making him choke on it.

“I’m sorry, Freya. I don’t think you realize how much you and I want him to suffer for everything he did to you.”

---