Page 9 of Broken Ties
“It's just as easy to enroll her into online classes and keep her at the mansion until we get some real answers."
I scoff but it’s a pathetic sound. “I have the only answer I need. I really thought there had to be a reason for her to leave, something big. I was sure we must’ve missed something.”
North’s jaw flexes as he grinds his teeth, and it takes him a second before he pegs me with a hard look. “No matter what elsehappens, Gabe, you need to remember that none of this is your fault. She made up her mind about us all long before she ever met us; that’s her failure, not ours. She has no idea the men we are, what we’ve done for her already, what we’ve lost… none of it. If you need space from her, then you’ll have it. I have more than enough staff to watch over her and guard her.”
I swallow roughly, then again, so I’m sure my voice will still come out even, and then I finally meet his eyes. “No, I’ll do it. Don’t make any changes to the plan.”
With a curt nod, he leaves without another word, trusting that I know what I'm doing even though I'm certain he’s wrong. I don’t know how much time passes as I sit at that table and stare at my hands, but finally there's another knock at the door and my usual therapist pokes her head in. When I don't immediately grin at her in greeting like I normally do, Charlotte's own smile dims a little, but she gets on with the session easily enough.
There’s no clock in the room, but time seems to drag on. I’m not sure if it's just my woeful mental state but the questions are far harder to answer than they usually are, and I feel myself getting needlessly defensive with every passing minute. With the monthly schedule all TacTeam personnel are put on, there’s a set pattern these sessions always follow, but when I finally answer the last standard question, she doesn't smile and dismiss me like usual.
Instead, she gives me a pitying look. “Is there anything else you want to talk about, anything causing you distress? It’s pretty clear to me that something terrible has happened, Gabe, and I’m here to help you.”
‘I don’t want any of you.’
Even sharing their Neuro classification, Charlotte isn’t even in the same ballpark as Gryphon ability-wise, so all I have to do is keep the miserable dejection from my face and I’ll make it out of this stupid fucking room.
But I can’t.
I watch her settle back into her seat, a serene look pasted onto her own face, and it’s suddenly so obvious to me that she’s baiting me. She has to be. There’s no way she’s been circling around the gaping hole in my chest, put there by my own Bond, and doesn’t know what she’s doing.
My hands fist at my side, my bond rippling in my chest in protest, and I barely hear the knock at the door that has Charlotte startling. She scowls for a moment before standing to answer it with murmured apologies to me, her tone far snippier at whoever is interrupting us.
Too bad for her, Kieran is immune to shitty Gifted attitudes.
He shoves his way into the room with his shoulders and jerks his head at me. “C’mon, Ardern, I’m taking you back to finally get some sleep.”
Charlotte bristles at him, then at me when I stand. “We haven’t finished here! I can’t sign him off unless?—”
Kieran cuts her off. “Unless nothing, he’s been in here for hours. Sign him off or explain yourself to Draven.”
When she scowls at him again, he smirks back. “NoxDraven. North’s been pulled into another meeting and he’s put his brother in charge while he’s unavailable. You have Nox’s number, right? Of course you do.”
No one would willingly engage with Nox on a good day, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that today is so far from that for any of our Bond Group.
Charlotte gulps and doesn’t try protesting again as Kieran finally slaps a hand on my shoulder and Transports me out. We arrive at the front door of my childhood home and it suddenly doesn’t matter that I can’t keep the misery from my face because everyone knows how fucked this place has become for me.
Scratching at the back of my neck, it’s easier to talk now that it’s about something that isn’t my Bond. “Thanks. How did you know?”
Kieran shrugs, good about scowling around at the other mansions in the gated community rather than eyeballing me. “It was going on for too long. I’ve done a million of those things, I know how long it should last. When I ran out of decent reasons you could possibly need to still be in there, I decided enough was enough. I wasn’t expecting any bullshit from her, not after Gryph vetted her, but I’m glad Draven’s control issues caught this one. What was she after?”
I scoff. “Probably intel on North for one of the other council members. She was pushing about my… well, the Bond. North was right, she’s a target now whether she wants us or not.”
He doesn’t even attempt to broach the mess of our Bond’s blanket rejection of us all, his mouth only tightening as he gives me a curt nod just like North had. “Forget about the therapist. I’ll send Nox after her and you’ll never see the bitch again.”
I swallow roughly, rubbing my hands over my face one last time, but it’s no use. There’s no shifting the worthlessness I’m feeling now, and the silence that greets me as I open the front door of my so-called home only doubles it.
I waketo a barrage of text messages from my classmates and friends, word having already gotten out about my Bond being dragged back to Draven, thanks to North walking her onto the campus to see the Dean. There are even photos of them both in the group chat I’ve been added to, that I barely glance at before blocking them all. The loathing she’d thrown at us all wasn’t justevident on my Bond’s face in the photos, nope, it’s etched into every fucking pixel of that image until I want to puke.
The responses from the entire Freshman class sends me over the edge.
Even though I’m aware that half of shit in the texts is just bullshit gossip, and the other half is assholes digging for information, I still have to go on a long morning jog to burn off some of the embarrassment sending my own bond into a writhing meltdown. I’m gutted that my life is quickly devolving into caretaking for a mother who’s checked out, fielding questions from people trying to attack my Bond Group, and guarding a Bond who doesn't want me.
When I get back from my run, Nina has already arrived for the day, and some of the tension in my shoulders eases the moment I see her car in the driveway. When I duck into the kitchen to grab a protein shake for breakfast, she greets me with a smile, already rummaging through the fridge as if it’s possible to find something my mom will accept. She’s back on her hunger strikes, refusing to take care of herself in any way, and I feel sickened by the sight of her emaciated frame.
I do my best to avoid interacting with her altogether.
It’s easy enough to do with the packed schedule of college classes I have ahead of me, and a text from North with the dorm and room number our Bond is staying in, along with a copy of her classes that confirms he’s slotted her into the same classes as me. I let out a long breath as I swing onto my motorbike, a little taken aback by my relief that North is still accepting nothing but the best for our Bond, no matter how impossible the feat or her complete rejection of us all.