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“I needed a break,” Mace says. “Cassia and I were getting to know one another.”
“Please make him go away,” I beg Orion, who simply lifts an unimpressed eyebrow.
“You two need to sort your shit out,” he says, shaking his head, heading into his office and gesturing Mace over.
“One second.” Mace leans toward me.
Heart drumming in my ears, I wait for him to say whatever he has to say.
Reaching out, he fiddles with a strand of my red hair, rolling it between his thumb and finger. “Tell me, is it only me you hate, or is it the world?”
“Depends on the week,” I admit. “Sometimes it’s just you, other days, it’s most of the world.” I smack his hand away before I can think better of it.
Shadows shroud his features, and his gaze, no longer lit with amusement, cuts through me. Those secrets I know he keeps come closer to the surface. A shiver erupts at the base of my spine; there’s something familiar about the danger he buries deep within himself.What exactly is Mace hiding?
“Most?”
Swallowing the sudden thickness in my throat, I rip my gaze away from his. Something about his corporate persona isn’t right. Maybe it’s the rumors of him working with the mafia. Regardless, being intrigued by Mace is dangerous business.
“I’d never hate Rose.”
“She is one of the good ones.” Heaviness hangs in theair between us. I won’t apologize. He has no right to touch my hair, but part of me worries I’ve sparked his interest instead of deterring him.
I force my fluttering pulse to calm with a deep breath, then say, “Goodbye, Mace.”
His responding chuckle is foreboding, like he takes my resistance as a challenge. I glare at his back. There’s no waythatis ever happening.
two
CASSIA
I try to let go of the irritation that’s been slithering through my veins since my encounter with Mace earlier today. Lately, I’ve been frustrated more than I care to admit, and I can’t blame it all on him. There’s a tight ball in my chest that pulses, as if it has a heartbeat of its own. The countdown of a bomb that’s set to detonate. I don’t know how to let it go. Sometimes I’m terrified one simple thing will push me over the edge and it’ll explode.
Exhaling, I stare into the murky blue depths of the deep end of the pool. I imagine who I would have been if not for all the death that surrounded me. Mom. Dad. Mimi. Magic isn’t real, but sometimes, I can’t help wondering if the Harris line is cursed. Everyone I loved died before they should have.
At nine-o’clock at night, the gym is dead, and no one is in the pool. Exactly how I like it. I raise my arms over my head, take another sip of chlorinated air, and dive in. Cool water encases my body and smooths over my skin as I torpedo to the bottom and glide until my lungs burn. As thesensation drives me to the surface, I push off the concrete, breaking through the water with a gasp and sucking in a deep breath. I dip below the water once more and do it again, cutting back and forth across the pool.
Suffocating the dread that tries to settle on my chest.
When my limbs are jelly and my mind is exhausted, I take one last lap, pushing myself hard, ignoring the ache in my lungs and side. I move through the water until I reach the other side of the pool, coming up with a hard inhale, which is immediately followed by a scream. There’s a man crouched before me.
My heart leaps into my throat. I push off the edge of the pool, creating distance, and rip off my goggles. Long, stringy dark hair. A hooked nose. A cross dangling from one earlobe.
“Ian? What the fuck? You scared the shit out of me.”
He grimaces. “I need your help.”
“I have a phone. You could have called,” I blurt, treading water.
His eyes bounce around the room before coming back to mine. “Too much risk.”
“What’s going on?” I ask, swimming a little closer but still keeping a good few feet between us. I’ve seen too many thrillers where the woman is drowned. Even though I’ve known Ian since college—we ventured into the darknet together—we went different directions. Ian always took things a little too far.
Maybe that’s finally caught up to him.
“Not here.” He stands and takes a few steps back.
“Okay...” Taking advantage of the opportunity, I grasp the edge of the wall and pull myself out. The cool air of the aquatics center sends a shiver down my spine. I snatch mytowel off the bench and wrap it around my body. “Where, then?”