Page 15 of Broken Ties
When she walks out in the clothes I left there for her, I curse myself for not choosing longer shorts. I’m sure it would’ve been fine if I hadn’t given her one of my old shirts to go with it, but now she looks as though she’s only wearing my shirt. I get one look at her and my mind starts to wander dangerously.
She’s a living, breathing temptation, carved out of my deepest fantasies, and I’m furious about this entire situation all over again.
Gabe startles at the sight of her and the way he immediately snarks at her to cover it up speaks volumes for how trying this week has been for him.“I was about to come in there after you. You can’t hide from Vivian, you know. He’d just go in there after you.”
She shrugs, looking around the room as though she’s not worried, and Gabe rolls his eyes back at her. I don’t have to use my Gift to know what he’s thinking and I agree with him entirely.
There’s no amount of nonchalance that’ll save her from Vivan Wentley.
The assholes around him all start making jokes about them both, erring on Gabe’s side in the exchange, but the side eyes they’re all giving him make it obvious that they’re just trying to save their own skins. He annihilates them all in the ring, beating them without breaking a sweat, and none of the gutless assholes want to risk any extra damage if Vivian decides to throw them into the rings today.
“You wanna explain to me why I was given a file for this Bond of yours with no Gift listed? I know North has her filed away in his Top Secret shelf, but I have to know what I’m working with if you want her to learn anything here.”
Shrugging, I project my answer to him.
Your guess is as good as ours, she claims to be Ungifted and all attempts to test her have come back with nothing. If you can figure her out, Draven will probably put up a shrine for you in the main courtyard. If you can convince her to drop her attitude, he’ll probably cast it in gold.
When Oli stalks over to us, I glance over to her without thinking but instantly regret it. I can’t look at her for longer than a second in front of Vivian without him picking up on all sorts of signals from me that I do not want my old drill Sargent knowing, so I fix my gaze on him instead, watching him take stock of her.
When his only reaction is to frown down at her, my Bond stares blankly back at him until, finally, he gives her a dose of his infamous, derisive wit. “You’re the Bond? You look about twelve years old, are you sure you’re old enough to be here?”
She crosses her arms over her chest, my old training shirt pulling up until I can confirm she is, in fact, wearing the shorts underneath them. “Nope, can I leave now?”
Across the room, Gabe almost faints at her smart mouth being directed toward Vivian and I turn my attention back to my Bond as a warning, hoping to deter her from taking it too far and forcing me to step in.
Disrespecting Vivian would also destroy any chances of my opinions shifting in her favor, but before I can worry too much about that, it becomes clear she does have some street smarts in her. Despite answering back at him, she carefully toes the line of sticking up for herself without lashing out at him the way she does with everyone else.
Giving her a once over, it’s obvious Vivian can’t read a thing from her. “I was expecting more. What’s your Gift? You’d better have something good for me.”
She shrugs. “Nothing. I’ve got nothing for you.”
Lie.
A big one, big enough that my throat is coated with the vile taste as well as my mouth, but that’s not all I get. Nope, my Gift thrums with little scraps of clues that drip from the words she refuses to speak.
She’s a Top Tier Gifted.
Whatever she’s got, it’s big and it’s mighty pissed off that we’re all treating her like this. I can’t stop the scowl from taking over my face as I glance at her, but the reaction from my own bond to her lying again is so unexpected, it’s practically unhinged.
It’s demanding I kill Vivian for questioning her.
This man is a highly respected member of my community and, personally, he’s one of my closest confidants. I turn to him for advice, his approval means more to me than any other, and right now I’m struggling to stop myself from cracking his mind open like a fucking egg.
What the hell is going on with this Bond of mine?
Clueless to the violence I’m grappling with, Vivian’s eyes narrow at my Bond as he scowls down at her, clearly trying to pry something out of her, and when he comes up empty-handed once more, he mutters, “I’m going to work this attitude out of you, you know. You’ll break before the end of the day, I’m sure.”
I’d bet every last dollar of the Draven fortune that she won’t.
She paces herself well enough, but we watch for a full hour as she all but destroys herself on the circuit Vivian gave her. Each time she finishes the round of machines, she just starts again, never questioning us on how many she should be doing or when this torture is going to end for her.
The elliptical alone has broken half the student body, yet she’s on her fourth round of reps and gritting her teeth through it like it’s a regular Wednesday afternoon for her. There are a lot of opinions from the other students about it for me to sift through, but nothing flags.
When Vivian’s voice cuts through the rest of the mind-chatter, there’s no doubt he’s speaking directly with me, considering the man has better control of his mind barriers than half the Neuros attending Draven.
She’s going to die if we leave it up to her.
He’s not wrong, and it’s only after I hunt down a whistle to blow that she even notices she’s the only one who hasn’t tapped out of the warm-up yet, the eyes of the entire room pointedly on her, but even with her flushed cheeks and the sheen of sweat covering her, the defiant look in her eyes has only grown steely. Shit, maybe I’ve spent too much time with the Dravens, becausethe idea of testing that resolve of hers is too tempting. Pushing and prodding at her until she snaps, it’s never really been a thing for me, but fuck, do I want to do it all with her.