Page 11 of Erik

“Maybe that’s why you’re such an indecisive piece of shit, Erik. You lie and you pretend and you act like you’re righteous, but you’renot!” His blurred expression twisted in disgust, and my voice crackled harshly as I squeezed his cheeks between my palms. “Don’t lie— you’re not some fucking justice warrior, okay. No one cares about you anymore. You’re a name on a list of people thatfailed, and you can’t even accept that? How many bad guys did you takedown in all that time? You’re not better than anyone else just because you went into the military. The worst monsters aren’t the ones overseas— they’re right here.”

Punching his chest, my little tirade came to an abrupt end when my knuckles hit a metal plate, and my breath hitched as the recoil knocked the air from my lungs. Blinking hard, I rubbed the spot over Erik’s t-shirt as he stared blankly up at me, and cold gripped my spine in a vice.

“You’re here for you and me, both of us. Even that’s more the truth than anything. The real bad guys are the ones we imagine into reality, and the worst of the worst is the bad guy that can’t face the truth.” My voice was quiet now, and I sniffled hard as my elbows wobbled, threatening to give way. Erik was warm and hard, like iron, underneath me, and I shook my head before managing wheezing an inhale.

“I’m here to help you get better because that’ll make me feel better. I can’t stand the guilt, and the only way to release it is to turn this nightmare into something else.” His deep voice reverberated up my thighs and arms, and I sunk down under the weight of his truth. Erik didn’t move, didn’t even breathe, and I closed my eyes to take a staggering breath.

“Do you know how to cook?”

11

Natasha

“Are you feeling better, Nat?” Glancing up from my laptop as Valerie sauntered into the conference room, a sketch pad under her arm and worry furrowing her brows, I frowned slightly. “Illya said you were sick. Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I’m here, aren’t I? I didn’t want to ruin your trip. How’d that go, anyway?” My sister dropped into the chair next to mine, plopping her pad on the table with afwop, and curiosity rose my brows higher. “Not very inspirational?”

“Not much, no. You’d think going to an underground city made almost entirely of human bones would get things going, but . . . I don’t know. It just didn’t. I mean, it was really cool, but . . . ” Trailing off in dissatisfaction, Valerie huffed and pouted, and I giggled lightly as she swiveled around in the chair. “Anyway, there’s a lot of creepy stuff on the internet, so that’ll have to do. What about you? What’d you do while we were gone? Fred said you finished the infrastructure.”

Licking my lips heavily as I nodded, I turned my laptop to Valerie, and she pretended to know what she was looking at. Smiling slightly, I ignored the memories that bombarded me of the night before to focus on the job. Now that Valerie was back, it seemed more bearable, and she arched a brow quizzically at me as I leaned back in my chair.

“I did. I mostly worked. Illya and I hung out a little. I did some cooking. It was really nice . . . but, to be honest, she’s a horrible assistant. I didn’t think she was serious when she said she never cooked anything at all before.” Scrunching up my face as Valerie laughed heartily, I straightened to gesture to her sketch pad. “What you got for me? I’m going to have to integrate it into the website and stuff, so it better be good.”

“It’s really not bad, but it’s not great either. I’m not happy with it at all.” Of course, anything Valerie drew was a masterpiece, even if she hated it. Popping open the pad, she flipped a few pages of doodles and folded them back to reveal a surprisingly scary setting. The graveyard was even creepier in black and white, and there was our main character sneaking around in full color. “It’s not done yet, but . . . I’m thinking of taking out a few things. It seems really busy.”

“Have you shown Marshal, yet? Did he fill you in on the meeting with the guy?”

“Yeah, yeah, I sent him a picture of it for the meeting.” Waving off my concern, my sister nodded with a little huff of displeasure. “They said it was awesome, but I think they were just fluffing my feathers.”

“It really is good, Val, but I think you’re right. It does seem a bit busy.” I agreed with her just so she’d feel better about the scene, and Valerie smiled brightly as I pointed at a seemingly aimless flock of crows in a tree. “If it doesn’t add anything, don’t put it in. I think you should focus on the girl. It’ll make it more . . . concise.”

Not that I really know what the Hell I’m talking about. The thought came and went, but it wasn’t uncommon. Valerie was the one with the talent, and I just happened to be a little above average at most things. She turned the page to another scene, a crypt, and I held up the pad to gaze under furrowed brows. Nothing about this scene was unique— it was just a crypt with a bunch of caskets and a creepy statue, totally normal. Truth be told, it didn’t have the same punch as the opening scene, and I frowned under tightly knit brows.

“Fred’s supposed to give me a final of the storyboard on Monday, but this is what I’m gonna base the rest off of. It’s not really in-your-face-freaky, but it’s gonna get worse and worse as the game progresses, so I didn’t want to go too far. At least, that’s the advice he gave me.” A soft ‘ah’ of understanding passed my lips, and Valerie twirled around in her chair absently. “To be honest, this isn’t nearly as fun as I thought. I know I vouched for this, but I think it was really just for a reason to validate quitting at the website place.”

“Yeah. To be honest, I’ve been considering dropping out, but, like, I can’t because I’m too good a person.” Doing this was a desperate measure, but now we were all committed, and things were actually going pretty smoothly. The work just sucked, and I wasn’t sure I’d want to do this again, even if it is easier the second time around. “I hired someone to manage those properties, right, so I don’t even need to do this for money anymore. That was the whole thing— we needed jobs. And also, Carlyle has already invested money and people on this, so . . . ”

“He invested two people on this, and honestly not that much money or expectations. I think he might’ve realized when we pitched this idea that it wasn’t exactly gonna work out.”It’s so much easier to hide my shit when Valerie’s right next to me.I lied to her so much that I wasn’t even sure what the truth was anymore. When she was here, I felt normal. I felt more than just okay— I felt a little good, to be frank. But when she was gone, I crashed so hard, and everything seemed to be swallowed up by blackness that I couldn’t get through.

I knew that I only had two options at this point. I had to fight to get to a place where I could be somewhat alright without my sister, or I was gonna walk in front of a truck. There was no in-between.

“So, I heard the maids talking about how you got a visit last night from some guy.” The fine hairs on the back of my neck stood up at Valerie’s cautious tone, and I glanced over at her through narrowed pupils. “Are you really okay, Nat? You never had a guy over before.”

“Yeah, I’m really okay.”Now that you’re back.“We just had dinner. I made bacon-wrapped sirloin, and we talked. Nothing happened.” That was the truth, at least, and Valerie shot me a wild look before I rolled my eyes with a small frown. “What? I’m capable of having friends.”

“I just didn’t think you were capable of havingguyfriends.” Blinking at that, I flopped my head back to heave a massive, groaning sigh, and Valerie swiveled around fast, tucking her feet. “Fred’s gay, and Marshal was married— that’s why you didn’t mind them. I just worry about you because it’s really not something you do, even platonically.”

“Valerie, you don’t have to worry about me. I’m good. You’re good. We’re good. Besides, they’re all dead and keeping on being afraid of them only makes them live on. It’s about time for me to take a leap.” My tone lowered, and Valerie frowned deeply as her cheeks paled a few shades. Ducking her head, she nodded reluctantly, and I reached to rub her shoulder as warmth suffused my chest. “I know it sucks, but just because we’re growing doesn’t mean we’re separating. We just need to figure out what we’re gonna do now that we have other people that want our attention.”

“You’re always doing that, Natasha. How can you be so rational?”

“What? Someone has to be. You live in la-la land, taking impromptu trips to Paris and fucking a super-rich dude any time you want.” Poking her in the forehead, I smiled when she blushed furiously, and a laugh clogged my throat. “You’re an idiot.”

“You’rean idiot!” I snorted a giggle at the high-pitched whine, and Valerie scooted her chair away from me with an indignant huff. “I have better things to do than be insulted, damnit.”

“Do you, though?” Amusement infected my tone, and my sister nodded viciously as I propped my forearms on the table to cradle my cheek. “I don’t have anything better to do, that’s for sure.”

Our banter ended when Fred and Marshal came sauntering into the conference room, and I lifted my head at their stern expressions. I could feel a chill in the air at the determination in their faces, and I scrunched up my nose.