River glances at his phone. “It’s the bureau director, we need to take this. Eva, finish catching Freya up on the case. Oz, Jude, Eli, you’re with me.”
Oz hesitates, his gaze searching.
I force a smile, trying not to let it hurt that apparently, I’m no longer trusted to listen to a stupid phone call.
The guys trail out, but River stops at the door, turning back to warn me. “You step one foot out of this room, I’ll be there waiting.”
My heart twists. “You’re getting paranoid, River.”
His face stays cold. “Am I?”
I press my lips together, my earlier panic morphing into anger. I’ve earned his mistrust though. I can be mad at him for locking me away, but I can’t change the fact that I broke my promise. I can’t make him trust me again. And I don’t know what to do with that.
The door shuts behind River and Eva eyes the door.
“Well, that was intense.”
I press my lips together. “That’s my new normal.”
Eva rounds the table and kicks back against the edge, her arms crossed. “So, you’re back.”
“I’m back.”
Strokes of deep red eyeshadow accentuate the look she shoots my way. “Voluntarily?”
“Yes. No.” I sigh. “I don’t know. I want to be here, I do, but not like this.”
“I take it they’re mad at you?”
I turn to face her, my arms splaying in the air. “Eli isnice.He’s all kind and jokey and it’s weirding me out.”
Eva presses her lips together to keep from smiling. “And flirty?”
I narrow my eyes. “Yes. The others though—Oz I can’t get a read on and Jude… I really fucked up with Jude. He’s always been on my side, from the very beginning. He’s never been anything but good to me and I went and ran.” I sigh. “I feel like I’ve destroyed us.”
I walk across the room, pushing thoughts of Jude out of my mind and focusing on how mad I am instead. “And River? He’s taking being controlling to a whole new psycho level.”
“Psycho how?” Eva asks.
I spin to face her. “Oh you know, unbreakable glass window and a reinforced door that I can’t pick the lock to psycho.”
Neatly shaped eyebrows peak high. “Do you need me to break you out? I can do that you know, I crack open chests for a living.”
“Dead people’s chests, Eva,” I remind her.
She waves a hand, knocking away my words. “Semantics.”
A tired laugh slips out. I stare at the off-gray ceiling panels and run my tongue around my mouth. Panic catches in my throat and I blink back tears.
“I don’t know how to fix it. To fixus.” My gaze drops to the papers spread across the table. “And then there’s the fucked-up fact that my half-brother is kidnapping and killing kids who look like me.”
Eva leans back against the table. “Have you talked to them? Told them how you’re feeling?”
I pull a face. “This whole talking about your feelings thing is still kind of new to me.”
She smirks. “I’ve heard it does wonders.”
“Did my therapist send you?” I deadpan.
