A Slave to Broken Hearts (A Slave to Love Sequel)

Chapter 89: Crutch

Blade POV

Kiana was not herself.

Okay, maybe it was too damn soon to say something like that.

She was herself, no illusions here, but she had shut down. She had been so quiet and withdrawn, and now even worse, like she wasn't fully present in the moment, wasn't really anywhere to be found.

That was okay. She was doing better than expected considering she'd been off on her own scoping things out the past few days and at least her heart had stopped racing so badly for me to hear it. It might have been easier for her to be this way at the moment actually. When I told her we should split up to cover more ground to find Ace, she agreed without complaint--without a word even--and wandered off down the left hand fork in the hallway while I took the right.

I didn't particularly love the idea of her exploring around here on her own, but she had done it a few times already--as recently as this week even with much higher risks involved--and been okay, and I had faith in the fact that Ace would have done a good enough job by now getting rid of most who would try to hurt her or anyone else lost in this maze. And I needed to give her something to do and focus on as the situation sank in; it might help her feel better while I figured out just how bad of a problem we had on our hands and hopefully fix it by the time she gave up or the distraction no longer worked.

As soon as Kiana and I parted ways and I was out of her line of sight, I headed for the nearest window that opened, steeled myself, then slipped out and started climbing. When I got to the edge of the slanted roof, I pulled myself up and joined the figure sitting at the top of the peak where I knew he'd be, like a gargoyle protecting the entire estate. It was only a matter of time before Kiana ran out of places to look and called me back so there really was no time to waste.

"You should have found a better hiding spot," I said as I sat down next to him, the wind blowing in the crisp cold air of autumn that was soon to be here. The sun was nearly set, only our extreme height from the roof allowed us to see the faintest slivers of muted orange beyond the trees, the rest of the sky darkening and full of stars. It made for a pretty picture, the kind of quiet lighting you'd see in a painting pretentiously labeled 'twilight' or some other bullshit.

"I wasn't anticipating anyone coming after me after I said I had shit to do," he mumbled, hands clasped behind the nape of his neck, head hanging down, staring down at the roof he was sitting on. It was a beautiful night and he had the best seat in the house but he didn't even care; coming up here was never about enjoying the view, after all. Which is exactly why he would come up here now. He might have had work to do and things to take care of, but there was no way in hell he'd run off to do it immediately without taking at least five minutes to freak out about it first.

"Yeah, well, unfortunately the last time we left you alone after a crisis you disappeared for months. You'll have to forgive us for not exactly wanting to leave you behind again," I replied.

Silence.

"You know she's down there looking for you," I said, leaning back to rest my hands against the weather worn shingles, stretching my legs out as I enjoyed the quiet night. Being in that house, adding yet another fucked up memory to it, was intensely stifling. Being up here was like the good old days of us being younger and stupider, avoiding the responsibility and consequences of our lives and leaving them downstairs for a while, with the feeble arrogance that only the young could have that one day we'd be free of it all.

I guess some things didn't change.

"That's not the comforting pep talk you think it is," he replied.

"It should be."

"You guys keep getting dragged into my shit and suffering for it, so no, it's not."

I really wanted to push his stupid ass off the roof sometimes and tonight was no different. "You got dragged into our shit first actually. And after everything you've seen go down between me and her, you should know better than to fuck it up like I did. So stop being a dumbass, get back in the house, and let her find you for fuck's sake."