feet. I staggered, my legs wanting to buckle. I caught myself before I fell, but I wasn’t going to sit down. I needed out. I couldn’t stay here, not with those words still on my laptop. I couldn’t see them again. I’d have to at some point, but not right now.
Check & Sons.
The law firm that Bradyn’s family used was Check & Sons.
The firm Art’s family ran. The firm where he’d gotten his start before moving to Rochester.
The firm that had been responsible for trying to have me tried as an adult and put into an adult prison as a thirteen-year-old.
The world started to go gray around the edges, and I pushed it back. I needed air.
I pushed open the door, breathing in the thick, humid Georgian air. It should’ve made things worse, but it didn’t. The tightness in my chest had nothing to do with what I was breathing.
I closed the door behind me and started toward the barn. I didn’t even realize I hadn’t put on shoes until I was halfway there, and by then, I refused to go back. I knew what I needed to do to get through this. The only thing I could do. The only person who could make me forget, even for just a little while.
I needed Bradyn.
Twelve
Bradyn
When I was done with Starbright, I’d go see Nyx and apologize. I might even grovel. I couldn’t believe I’d fucked up this badly. I wanted to justify it, say that I’d had a right to be suspicious because she really had lied about why she was here.
Except she hadn’t. Not really. She’d said from moment one that she had to keep her client’s confidence. And as soon as she’d found out about the Huxleys being involved, she’d gone to her client for permission to tell them everything.
The worst part of all of this was that I’d known how hard it was for her to trust people, especially men, and she’d put her faith in me only to have me let her down in an awful way. I doubted she’d even accept my apology, but I had to try. At the very least, she deserved to hear me say that I’d been wrong.
I put Starbright in her stall and then used the hose to wash some of the grime off my hands and face. Maybe taking a shower before going to see Nyx was the best way to go. Or maybe I was trying to come up with excuses to put off seeing her because I knew she probably hated me right now.
I was still trying to figure out what to do when I heard footsteps coming toward me. I opened my mouth as I turned, ready to tell Melodee that I wasn’t interested in her increasingly vulgar propositions…then stopped with my mouth hanging open when Nyx appeared.
My surprise lasted only as long as it took me to register her body language. Her face was pale except two flushed spots high on her cheeks. Her mouth was a flat line, and her eyes were wide. The expression in them was one I recognized.
Shit.
She’d either just had a flashback, or one was coming on, and she was trying to fight it.
Concern overpowered everything else I was feeling, and I moved toward her. She crashed into me, and my arms went around her automatically. Her hands locked behind my neck as she pulled me down to meet her. I barely processed her intention before her lips were on mine.
I had a brief moment where all I wanted to do was follow her lead and forget about the things I needed to say, but my conscience refused to let me enjoy the kiss for more than a few seconds before it reminded me that I needed to stop being an asshole.
I held onto her shoulders and took a step back, trying not to compare this to the other night when I’d caught her kissing Isaac, and he backed away because she’d had too much to drink. At least I could say with fair certainty that she was sober. She tasted like coffee, not alcohol.
“Nyx, what are you doing?” I kept my voice as gentle as I could manage.
“Please.” She grabbed the front of my shirt. “I need you.”
My eyes met hers, and I could see the same desperation I felt in her hands. Her body practically vibrated with it. Something had triggered her, and it’d been bad enough for her to come to me despite the things I’d said