Devious | Eric Coulter

27

UNEDITED

C H A R L I E

The pounding in my head didn't help me at all.

Groaning, I caressed the back of my head tenderly, feeling the bump that formed in it. I looked beside me and saw Eric watching me with intense eyes.

"Stop touching your head. It will reopen your stitch," He scolded lightly, "As if your brother hadn't already."

I brought my hand back to my side and scanned his face worriedly, "Are you alright?"

He rolled his eyes, "You should ask yourself that, Lottie. I only have a busted lip."

I bit my lip before asking, "How about Four?"

He smirked at my question, "Now, that's a good question. You probably shouldn't go near him at the moment, he can barely talk because his entire face is swollen and bruised."

I frowned when he snickered at my brother's situation. "What did you do to him, Eric?"

He held up his hands in surrender, "I didn't do anything wrong. I just punched his face a couple of times, and I might have liked it more than I should."

I rolled my eyes, "Eric, you don't go around punching people—"

"I do if they do something to hurt you."

I turned my head so that he won't see my blush. I heard some shuffling before I felt a dip on the mattress. Looking back at Eric, I saw that he was once again on the bed with me.

"Oh, come on, Eric." I groaned softly, "Go sit on the chair."

He ignored me and settled comfortably on the bed, "The chair is making my back ache. And besides, I've been working all morning, punching your brother and doing those fúcking paperwork before you woke up. I deserve a break."

I heaved a sigh and laid on the bed stiffly, not really comfortable at the close proximity with the blue-eyed leader. "You have a thing called apartment, you know."

 Silence greeted me, so I reiterated, "Eric. Go to your apartment."

"And leave you here unattended? No."

I pursed my lips before scooting over to my left side so that there would be space between us. Noticing my movement, Eric quickly but gently grabbed me on my waist and pulled me back.

"What the heck are you doing, Eric?" I hissed.

"Go to sleep, initiate. That's an order. I'll wake you up when the last initiate is done performing his fear simulation."

Huffing, I finally did what he said.

♒♒♒♒♒♒♒

"Wake up, Lottie." I heard a whisper, "Get up. We don't have much time before that bratty old nurse comes back to check on you."

I opened my eyes unwillingly and turned my head to Eric, "Bratty old nurse?"

"You don't want to know." He replied before helping me get up.

I groaned when I felt pain on my back. "Do I really have to train?"

He rolled his eyes, "Stop being a lazy arse. We need to go."

I huffed, "I'm not lazy. My entire body is aching, Eric."

Eric ignored my statement—as usual—and walked out of the infirmary. I sighed and followed him out. As we walked silently through the dark halls of Dauntless, I brought a hand to my bandaged head and rubbed it softly. I hissed when I felt a stinging sensation the second I touched my wound.

"I told you to stop touching your head. Your wound will worsen if you continue touching it."

I stopped touching my head when Eric scolded me. Without him knowing, I mimicked his sentence mockingly.

"If you mock me again, I won't hesitate to punish you, Lottie."

I clamped my mouth shut. How did he know?

"I know everything."

Did I say that out loud?

"No, you didn't."

"What the —"

"Shut you mouth or we'll get caught." Eric interrupted and pushed me inside the simulation room.

I sat on the Nightmare Chair and leaned back as Eric went towards me with a syringe. He moved my hair away and lightly pressed the needle on my neck.

"Don't let your Divergence slip through. Face your fears like a real Dauntless would. If you don't, you'll be dead before you can stand up from the chair." I swallowed nervously before I felt darkness consume me.

"Be brave."

♍♍♍♍♍♍♍♍

"You did good. You didn't show any sign of being Divergent." Eric commented as soon as I emerged from the simulation.

"Thanks," I answered breathlessly. He helped me sit up on the chair as I tried to catch my breath.

"Relax." He stated as I took deep breaths.

I waved my hand at him before saying, "This is so late, but Peter knows about this," I waved my hand around.

"I know."

I looked at him incredulously, "Wait, what?"

He looked calm and collected, "You don't have to worry about it. He knows better than to tell anyone."

The threat was present in his voice. I nodded, although my head had a bunch of question marks swimming around it.

"Let's go. We need to get you back to the infirmary." The clipped tone that he had made me feel a little... guilty.

I followed him out of the room without saying anything. I knew that the change in his behaviour had something to do with my fear simulation.

He was there.