DIVISION 52 - BOOK II

CHAPTER LI

"You think revenge is some sweet release?" She demanded in more of a growl this time. "It's not. It is worthless and it will only drive your feelings further from your control."

"Don't talk to me about feelings." I whispered.

"Why?" She raised an eyebrow and appraised me more closely. Slowly walking a circle near me like I was a fusion bomb ready to explode. "What do you feel, Makayla?"

"Don't fucking patronise me–"

"I'm trying to understand you." She answered simply, tucking her hands behind her. It only made me angrier. Her calm. Her lack of feeling.

"If I told you, Scorpion. You wouldn't be so calm."

"You can tell me anything in the world, Xavier. I'm not going anywhere." She said flatly.

It carved a new line of fire through my heart but I stifled it. I broke away from the stand off and stepped into her path. My breathing was ragged and my thoughts were further from my grip. Her eyes flickered between mine taking in every inch of me. It had been so long since I had felt her heat near me and it was costing me so much energy to maintain this anger–this space between us was a god damn black hole.

"You want it all? No holding back?" I growled, moments before her face. She dropped me the smallest nod.

"You broke us. You did it with the one person I was most fearful of and you did it on your own turf. You chose in that second that she was worth it over us and there is no amount of lies I can tell myself to work around it." I murmured, closer to her face. Watching that cool mask of hers crack before me. I pressed my finger slowly against her chest. "You did that. Now that I want to give us a chance and end this woman and you want to stop that too... So tell me, Scorpion. What exactly should I be feeling for you right now? Because you are not giving me many options other than to despise you entirely."

You can tell me anything in the world. Was she expecting that?

"Yes."

What.

"You're not wrong. How could you be? I swore to protect you and make you happy. I've betrayed you and for someone that means so little to me. I won't waste excuses on you like I wouldn't waste your time bringing you out here for no reason..." She paused and scanned the harsh edges and mixed metal rooftops around us. I hated that the pain from my words tore across her face. I wanted to be satisfied that it was returned but I couldn't.

Her pain was always my own.

"Why here?" I got out, trying to distract myself from the emptiness in her own eyes now. It ripped my heart apart all over again. Alex was indestructible not vulnerable–I never wanted to see her so wounded again.

"You asked me for my history a long time ago." She murmured, tucking her hands away and scanning the ground. "My beginning was here."

The realisation dropped and I spun my head looking around us in new light. All the memories came back to me of that distant conversation. If you knew it all you would run. The lost family. The painful conditions in Sector 52. The fighting for every day of life and the slow but sure development into the most lethal woman in Merridian. All here.

She brushed a gloved hand against a worn railing that could have served many purposes before it rusted into oblivion. Then she cast her eyes down the street and stared at something I didn't recognise.

"I know you've made your choice, Makayla. But would you join me anyway?" She whispered, unable to meet my gaze. Maybe fearing for the moment I said no. I bit down on my lip and let the breath go through my nose.