all on for showing up here.
I don’t feel a tug to any of them so at least Gryphon isn’t here to see this mess.
"She has a curfew and she knows it," North says, his voice sounding the same as ever, cold and unaffected, but I can feel the difference in him. I’ve been forced to spend enough time with him to know that under all of that ice, he's fuming, pissed off that I would dare defy his rules.
I feel like a freaking child being scolded and the scowl on Atlas' face says he's feeling the same way. "She's my Bond and if I want her to sleep in my damn bed then she will. She wasn't running off or doing anything else you've put on your no-no list. I'll go to the Council myself if you try to stop her from coming here."
North smooths a hand down his tie. "Good luck getting the rest of the Council to go against me."
He finally looks over at me, his eyes calculating and unimpressed at the disheveled state of me sitting there in my old, ratty pajamas. ”We’re leaving. Get up, Fallows.”
I pull my knees up to my chest as I stare around at the men all standing there. "I'm not even wearing a bra, I don't want to-"
"I wasn't asking what you wanted to do. I'm telling you to walk downstairs and get in my car, Fallows."
My heart climbs up my throat and tries to choke me. "Atlas is one of my Bonds as well. Why can't I stay here?"
North doesn't budge and his mouth is sealed shut in a disapproving line. Well, fuck. Atlas shifts forward like he’s going to attack them all and I really don’t want a part in that. I can’t afford for that to happen, if it triggers my gift then it’ll be a big game over for me so instead, I sigh and get out of the bed.
Tears prick at my eyes as I leave without looking at Atlas. I don't need to see whatever it is that's showing on his face, it’ll only push me over the goddamned edge. Maybe he's figured out that I'm too much fucking trouble. Maybe he's finally realized I'm no fucking good for any of them.
Fuck.
I think about running but it leaves me as quickly as it comes. North will find me, no matter where I go, he'll find me.
The elevator is freezing and I cross my arms over my chest when the TacTeam member glances over at me, escorting me down as though I’m about to run screaming into the night in my freaking pajamas.
More useless tears threaten to fall and I choke them back.
The driver pulls the door open as I approach and I tighten my arms across my chest to try to hide my lack of bra a little. I smile and thank him but he ignores me completely, shutting the door firmly after me. Great. Everyone fucking hates me, even North's freaking driver.
I sit and wallow in my own bleak misery until the door opens and the man of the moment climbs in, sitting opposite to me so we're facing one another. The car starts and we take off down the street, in the wrong direction.
I fidget nervously, unable to sit still in the suffocating silence.
North is, as always, unaffected. Completely at ease as he looks out at the college campus.
"If the housing provided to you is inadequate, then I will have you moved into my residence. You can commute from there."
Dear God, no. I can barely handle the dinner there one night a week. “The campus is fine. I can go back there. I can call a cab, just let me out."
His eyes are so sharp I'm sure I must be fucking bleeding. "Is there something wrong, Fallows? Some reason you don't want to travel with me? I will provide everything you require."
I swallow. "I was going to stay with Atlas so I could be with one of my Bonds. The campus is fine, I can go... home to there."
The word home gets stuck in my throat but I force it out, anything to get out of this fucking car.
"You're in luck. My house has three of your Bonds living there, so you will have one of us with you at all times."
I glance out of the window so he doesn't see the useless tears starting in my eyes. Perfect. I've gone from a shitty, but solitary room, to something that's probably over the