They think he’s dangerous and maybe I should talk to Reed first and then figure out a plan. But I tell them that I’ve tried. I’ve been trying for months but he doesn’t say anything and I’m getting impatient.
“I love him, okay?” I say, looking at all three of them before fixing my eyes on Salem. “Wouldn’t you do the same for him? For Arrow.”
Her golden eyes fill with sympathy and also determination on my behalf. “I’d do anything for him.”
And so it’s decided.
Not that they were going to change my mind but still.
But there’s one thing that I think is a bad sign. Halo is restless.
She’s been kicking and moving and making a ruckus inside my womb ever since Reed dropped me off at the library. And she’s yet to calm down. I rub my belly, rock my body in the chair, take a walk around the library – which is not a hardship because I have to get up to pee every five minutes anyway; stupid bladder – but to no avail.
By the time I’m done, I’ve had it with her.
But then as soon as I see Reed, she quiets down.
She goes back to sleep and oh God, I’m so relieved. I’m so relieved to see him that I can’t stop my smile as I walk through the black metal gates to meet him.
“Hi,” I say, smiling. “Oh, I’m so glad to see you.”
His frown is immediate. “What happened?”
“Nothing happened,” I tell him, rolling my eyes, before grabbing his hand and putting it on my belly. “Halo was being such a brat, Roman. All day. And look, now that you’re here she’s fine. I don’t like that she’s chosen teams.”
I was expecting a chuckle. Or if not that then at least a small smile.
But he doesn’t give me any of that.
Even though he does grab my belly like he always does, his fingers splaying over the bump, but his wolf eyes that always shine or glint when he touches her don’t come alive.
They’re shuttered.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, squeezing his hand.
“Nothing. Let’s go,” he says and tries to take his hand off my belly.
But I stop him. “Roman, what’s going on? What happened?”
His jaw tics. “Nothing happened.”
Something must have.
Because I know he’s coming back from work.
He was supposed to drop me off at school to study before going back to his hotel room — where he still lives despite spending the majority of his time at the glass house — to get changed and go to work.
Because he got called in, which I completely hated.
It only made me more determined to take matters into my own hands.
That and the fact that after I worshipped his cock in the foyer yesterday, he drew me a bath. He washed my hair for me, rubbed lotion on my belly, massaged my back, my knees, my feet.
How can I not give him what he so obviously wants then?
When he can be so tender and loving.
“You’re upset about something. I know. Tell me.” I inch closer to him, to his rigid body. “Just tell me, please. You never tell me anything, Roman. And I know you’re coming back from work. Something must’ve happened. You need to —”
“Fae,” he growls, speaking over me as something flashes through his eyes. “Not now. Not fucking now.”
That flash of something, something dark, tortured, makes me nod.
I wasn’t going to do it.
But that light of utter anguish makes me agree. Like it pains him right now to be asked questions.
“Okay.”
He gives me a short nod and takes me to his Mustang, helping me gently inside despite his harsh demeanor.
I watch him from the corner of my eye as he drives.
I watch the tight lines of his shoulders, the way his jaw is ticking. The way it doesn’t even look like he’s in the car with me.
As if he’s somewhere far away in his thoughts.
As if he’s in a trance.
I don’t know what’s going on but whatever it is, it’s bad.
It’s worse than his daily battles at the office. It’s worse than him going into that place every day. Worse than anything I’ve seen in the past months.
I don’t know what to do.
I don’t know how to make it better, how to reach him right now.
All I know is that I’m not going to let it go on for long. I’m not going to let him suffer like this.
This time I have a plan and I’m going to make it happen.
I’m going to set the guy I love free.
The guy who’s just taken a turn and I realize that we’re not going home.
He isn’t taking us to the glass house in Wuthering Garden.
He’s taking us to our town, Bardstown. And from the looks of it, he’s taking us back to the woods.
The woods where I first danced for him. Where he first kissed me.