“You’re staying with me.”
She tenses, and I know why. She might havesomelevel of power over me, but Nolan holds it over her, too. It’s a weird hierarchy of ownership.
He pivots into business. “You two settle in. Rest. Maybe write some songs.” Then, quicker, “I’ll swing back this weekend. We’ll talk details later.”
My jaw tightens anyway. “What about Finnick and Kami?” I ask. “Heard you mention them on the phone.”
“I sent them home for a bit,” he says, already scrolling.
I nod. They’re never part of this.
Adriana drifts to the window, fingers tracing the ledge. “I brought wine,” she says lightly. “We could open it tonight before we leave? Celebrate your little retreat.”
I stare at her. “No.”
She blinks. “Jude—”
“I said no.”
Her jaw tightens, color rising in her cheeks.
Nolan steps between us. “Adriana. Leave them some space. He’s clearly in a mood.”
They move for the door. Adriana sets a black case on the dining table with a deliberate thud and shoots me a look I don’t bother interpreting.
The door clicks softly behind them. When the hallway settles into silence, I finally relax. The light from the kitchen is warm across the floor. I walk to the windows and push them open. The scent of the ocean hits an almost lost part of me, and it stings so suddenly that I have to press my palm flat to the glass. I blink. And then—
I’m not in this room anymore.
I’m back there.
~ A memory ~
The warehouse smells like gasoline. Sweat stings my eyes from all the drugs. Nolan’s voice is a blur somewhere behind me, saying,“Finish it, Jude. Now. He’s a little fucking snake.”
I don’t even remember what I said to the guy I was sent to eliminate, but he lunges, and everything goes white. My pulse is a drum in my skull. My body isn’t mine anymore. It’s teeth and fury and chemicals. My hand shakes when I raise the gun, but the sound it makes—
Christ.
The man’s head snaps back, and he drops like someone cut his strings. There’s a hole where his life used to be. My stomach flips, but Adriana’s hand is suddenly on my shoulder, nails digging in.
“There you go, baby,” she says. “There, it’s done. Let’s leave.”
The gun’s weight is suddenly too much in my hand. My breath catches. My chest burns. And when I finally see what I’ve done, when itactuallyhits, I lose it. My fist goes through the window before I even realize I’ve moved. Glass slices into my skin, warm blood rushing down my wrist. I keep hitting it, over and over, until there’s nothing left to break but me.
I’m sick of this fucking life. This trap.
Adriana’s voice shoots up every octave possible as she claws at me to stop, screaming that I’m going to kill myself. She doesn’t stop me before a shard digs into my wristjust right,and I’m suddenlycold as fuck,sliding down the wall. She’s still screaming when Nolan rushes in and tourniquets my ripped flesh. The only thing I remember is silence. Then the next morning, when I stared at my reflection. I looked like a ghost wearing someone else’s eyes.
~*~
I blink, and the warehouse is gone. My pulse still hasn’t slowed.
I wake up to a door closing and someone cursing under their breath. I roll over and crack an eye open to see my best friend. I must have fallen asleep pretty quickly after arriving here.
Micah Prescott’s story is nearly as tragic as mine. He didn’t go looking for Nolan. Nolan found him after some shit gig in L.A., where Micah was too high to stand, passed out behind the stage with a needle still in his arm. Nolan sawpotential. He wanted a band. He fed him the same poison he fed me. The same leash.
And unfortunately, Micah bit.