“It’s not like that,” I whisper.
“Then what is it?”
My eyes defocus, then refocus again, like a lens going blurry and almost failing.
“Our plan this year was perfect,” I manage to say. “ We had adeal. Roman and I worked out a deal so we could guarantee all of the society internships would be given to Daggers and Luros members. What my father did was unfair. We needed to make it right.”
Sev is breathing heavy as he touches the side of Thorne’s face. “Hey. You conscious?” he asks.
“I’m happy as a…” Thorne starts to say before coughing. “Happy as a fucking clam, if Knox’s money is in my bank account tonight.”
“My phone is right here,” I tell Thorne, sliding it out of my pocket and holding it up like it’s some fucking olive branch. “I’ll give you my maximum transfer. And then I’ll do another one, four more times this week. Is that enough, you leech?”
Thorne just laughs from his place on the ground, blood coating his white teeth.
“Rich kids are so fucking easy. I’ll look forward to it, Knox.”
Sev stands over Thorne like he’s a bodyguard, watching his every move. Thorne tells me the username of the online account he wants the funds transferred and I put it into my banking app, my hands shaking so badly I can barely hold the phone steady.
Worth the price, if I can save Onyx from being shut down.
Onyx matters more than my personal bank account.
Sev finally looks at me.
His beautiful slate eyes that felt like they were mine.
“So you weren’t making deals to get more connections for Onyx,” Sev says. “You were trying to help the other societies?”
I take in a long breath of air.
The fresh scent of the flowerbuds on the trees feels like a mockery.
All this beautiful spring, surrounding everything, yet my own world is spiraling around me.
“Yes. And you were spying on me?” I ask, my voice feeble.
Sev’s face is grim.
I look at the rose tattoo that’s just slightly peeking out of the top of his unbuttoned collar. The bottom of the raven’s wing, at the base of his sleeve.
Everything about you that’s started to feel like home.
My throat is tight.
And I see something close to heartbreak in his eyes.
“Yes, I was,” Sevan says. “I was supposed to be spying on you, and I was falling for you, instead.”
The tectonic plates shift beneath me again.
The iceberg inside me is being turned upside down.
Like I’m about to be swallowed whole.
I can’t.
I can’t…