“You should have campaigned for it. You would have made a hell of an advocate,” he says so softly, and the endearment is incredibly sweet.
Be with Brazen.
“I didn’t want to run into him any more than I had to. If I was advocate, I’d run into him all the time.”
Now I’ll have to anyhow.
“Well you know where I am now. Berimond only has one hotel. I have to cut my phone off due to tracing purposes. I just wanted to talk to you before I did,” he murmurs softly. “I’ll call you when I leave though if that’s okay.”
“I’ll answer if you call,” I almost giggle out.
He laughs a little at my intentionally noncommittal response.
“Take care, babe,” he coos, and the line is dead suddenly.
I frown lightly, and I consider going to sleep in Berimond right now. I’d at least have a bed there. There’s no question about how Brazen feels about me, and Hale’s hot and cold bursts are just fucking with my head. He’s never acted like this to this extreme.
Pounding footsteps barreling down the hall jar me out of my lost thoughts. Distant yelling becomes a distinct disagreement as the door to Hale‘s apartment opens and slams. I realize it’s Hale and Clay, and I rush to the bedroom to listen in on the whispered argument.
“How the fuck am I supposed to do that with her here? It’s not like I planned on her finding a fucking level seven hybrid all of the sudden. Why didn’t she call you? I could have left until this was over. It’d be a little obvious now,” Hale gripes.
That’s why I didn’t call, asshole. Though I do regret that decision thanks to you and your fucking craziness.
“She didn’t call me because she obviously didn’t want you skipping out. Why did you kiss her if you’re not going to be with her? Either you tell her what the fuck is going on, or you leave her alone completely. You swore if I kept my mouth shut she wouldn’t get hurt more than just you leaving her.”
“You know I can’t fucking tell her without breaking her. She’ll be devastated, and who knows what will happen. There won’t be enough olophine to hold her back,” Hale blares, and I stumble backwards as his words travel through the walls with such an awakening force.
What the fuck can be this bad?
“Just tell her. I’m sick of this shit. She’s going to end up with Brazen if you don’t, and he’s going to tell her everything if he finds out. She’ll be done with you forever if he tells her before you do.”
Fucking shit!
“Brazen wouldn’t tell her because he wouldn’t want her destroyed. He’s not going to fucking find out either because I’m not going to let anyone know outside of the few who do. This is personal to me, and I think I’ve earned this much,” Hale growls.
“So has she. She deserves to know what took you away, and you should tell her yourself before she goes crazy trying to find out. I’ve never seen the two of you fight like that. You’ve always solved things quickly or not at all. We can’t risk fighting in front of the full bloods or the humans. It makes us look like we’re lesser than them, and it could end up in someone else being commander. Do you want to answer to a full blood?”
“No,” Hale sighs out. “Never again. I want Araya to be-”
“Commander Banner,” Wendy interrupts while knocking on his door.
Damn it. You want me to be what?
“Come in,” he snaps.
“Sorry, Sir. I brought the food you ordered. Would you like for me to take something to Ms. Crush?”
“No. I got her something already.”
“Really? You ordered her food?” Clay exasperates.
“She has to eat, and I doubt she gives a damn about going below to shop or buy. I got the kids something too. I’ll just drop it off and go, I swear. I need to talk to her about something anyways unrelated to us.”
“Such as?”
“Something you don’t want to know the truth about,” Hale whispers to escape Wendy’s present ears.
“Ah. Yes. Definitely don’t want to know.”
