Twisted Devotion (Twisted #4) - Jessi Elliott
Chapter 1
This city is my personal hell.
Even still, it’s taken me years to make the decision to leave. While the atmosphere in Rockdale is lively, and the take-out food is top-notch, there are some things you can’t move past while staying in the same place. Time doesn’t heal all wounds.
“Kelsey. You’re doing it again.”
I lift my eyes from the bubbles in my Coke and acknowledge Allison’s statement with a wry smile. “Sorry,” I mumble.
She shakes her head, crossing her arms, but there’s amusement in her eyes when she says, “I take you to breakfast at your favorite place, and you sit there and zone out the second I start talking. You’re the one who asked me to get together this morning. What gives?”
My smile fades as I pull my sweater tighter around me, shivering. The quirky downtown diner I’ve visited nearly every week for months is family-owned, and they can’t afford to fix the furnace that’s been slowly dying since Christmas. Two months ago.
“Yeah, I’m sorry. Really.” I didn’t mean to be rude. “What were you saying?”
Allison pauses a moment before uncrossing her arms and stealing a blackberry out of the small bowl beside my plate, popping it into her mouth. “I asked how work was going. I know it’s been a little difficult to get back into a normal routine after everything with The Experiment. For all of us.”
The evil group of humans was using a serum that turned fae human—when it worked.
We took them down back in November, but Allison’s right. Even I still sometimes wake up in the middle of the night in a panic, having forgotten that I don’t have to fear for my immediate safety. I’m better adjusted than some—including my best friend, Seth, who I haven’t seen in weeks. He took off shortly after things calmed down, and now he won’t pick up the phone. Aside from a text a couple of days after he left to tell me he was safe, I’ve heard nothing. There’s been a pit of worry in my stomach for as long as I can remember, but where Seth is concerned, there’s nothing I can do until he’s ready to talk.
I pick up my fork and stab a blueberry harder than necessary, lifting it to my mouth before shrugging. “I’m fine, and it’s good. Keeping me busy.”
After months of extensive training to work on Tristan’s security team back when he was fae, and all the drills I assisted with leading up to the battle with The Experiment, I decided to use the skills I gained to offer personal training to other fae. It’s more fun than it is work, which makes the paycheck even sweeter to cash. The physicality of the profession has been good for me. It offers the perfect opportunity to exert pent-up emotions, to channel my anger into something productive. It’s something I’ve struggled with since losing my family—and my mundane life—but nothing I can’t control and use to my advantage in training.
That all ends today, though. It’s my last shift at the small fitness facility I’ve been running; and as long as everything goes as planned, my last day in Rockdale. I just have to work up the nerve to tell everyone I’m leaving.
“Busy,” Allison echoes, nodding slowly and making a few strands of her wavy blonde hair fall into her face. “Right. You haven’t taken a day off since you started there.”
I lift a brow and tuck a bright red curl behind my ear. “I haven’t needed to.” That, and the number of fae who—ever since the battle—want the ability to protect themselves against new possible threats, have kept my schedule full.
She frowns. “You can relax, Kelsey,” she says in a gentle tone. “The war is over. This is supposed to be the good part. Us getting to go back to our lives and enjoying them.”
I want to bark out a laugh, but I hold it in. It’s not her fault. She has no idea why I’ll never be comfortable here long-term. And with “long-term” meaning eternity, there’s not a chance I can stay.
“You’re right,” I say, forcing a smile as I cut into the giant Belgian waffle on my plate. I shove a piece into my mouth, figuring if I keep it full, Allison can’t expect me to talk.
She eats her ham and cheese omelet, glancing out the window at the street as cars pass.
“You’re back at the hotel now?” I finally ask, hoping to switch the topic of conversation to her. This is