Prey

Chapter 54

What if he refuses...?

He already cut us off of his help, and we just barged into his room unannounced so what if he turns us away?

I'd like to think that Xander was having the same thoughts, but in the moment I wasn't sure.

There was a lot I was unsure about right now.

The silence broke at the sound of footsteps, all eyes turning to Khloe who immediately looked like she regretted her decision to step out of the bathroom and into this scene we had caused.

That familiar sigh cut through the air as Nico turned back to us, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"You can't keep doing this," he lectured, gesturing to me with his hand.

The guilt doubled at that alone, despite the fact that this was the first time I've had an issue with my bones.

Of course, it looked like he did this to me, what else would he think?

Well... he did, but it was my fault, to begin with.

He could have just let me go, then all of his lies and problems that sprouted from them would have been done with.

"Oh ok, you automatically think I'm to blame for this?" Xander bit with the anger from before.

"Are you're telling me she did this to herself?" he retorted.

Yes.

I could just barely tell Xander was looking at me, but I didn't have the guts right now to see the hard gaze I knew he held.

The grating way in which he spoke his next words sent a shiver down my spine.

"Well, yeah, damn brat was lucky I caught her or else she would be dead right now."

He was right, and I think that's one of the main things haunting me right now.

The realization that I was mere seconds away from dying on top of the other source of my endless anxiousness that peaked with the words he just spoke.

He was furious. Unrelentingly furious at me for what I had done.

And through everything, even though the knowledge that I was the one who had the right to be mad before all of this, I couldn't invalidate his reaction to what I did.

I was mad at myself too somewhere buried deep beneath everything else.

Both irritated and defeated by the fact that I let myself enter into that dark void of a thought process, and couldn't manage to catch myself in time.

"I'm going to need you to elaborate on that further," Nico's confusion was greatly evident.

He didn't believe what Xander was telling him.

And the fact that what Xander had said was 100% true just made it that much more frustrating

I stiffened at the low growl that radiated beside me.

It was faint, but it was there.

"What the hell do you need elaborated? This idiot was being stupid on the window sill and ended up tripping on a damn pillow, falling against the window with enough force to open it, and fell out of it, I barely reacted quick enough to grab her arm and drag her back in!"

I found myself biting my bottom lip yet again to keep it from bobbing.

It wasn't the full truth, but it did cause some questions of my own to arise.

Did he think I did it on purpose?

I swallowed hard, hating the question as soon as it appeared.