Unbound (Unbound, Book 1) ~Formerly Casting Power~

Chapter 41

"You couldn't have played along, Cyd? Not even a little bit?" He kissed her cheek and took the full mug of coffee she held out for him.

"You shouldn't poke fun at others."

"I'm sorry." He smiled and turned to look at us. "I'm sorry."

Maible stared at the floor without speaking. Her hands were clutching her mug so tight, her knuckles looked like bone, and I was afraid that the porcelain cup was going to shatter within her grip.

"I thought you went to the office already."

"I don't work weekends unless there's an emergency, Nora. If I do, it's from my office here at the Manor unless I can't avoid leaving."

"He likes my coffee," Cyd chimed in.

"Well." I paused to take the last sip of my coffee, my cheeks puffing out before I could swallow. "Maible and I were just finishing."

Maible finished her own coffee and stood. We weren't fooling anyone, but it was better to get away before the awkwardness of last night's dinner settled in. I didn't know if our late-night talking had marred her opinion, but she wouldn't look at him.

"What are you girls up to today?"

"Shopping," Maible replied almost before he'd completed the question and sat back down. "Maybe we'll catch a movie."

"That sounds like fun." He smiled over the rim of his mug, eyeing Maible.

"Not really." Maible shrugged and bit her lip. Her gaze slid to the ceiling and my stomach dropped.

I eyed Devland. He looked pleased, happy even. Maible didn't. "Let's just go," I said and moved to pull her out of her chair, blocking his line of vision.

Devland swiveled to look at me, shaking his head as though coming out of a trance. I couldn't help but notice that the moment he lost focus on her she snapped out of it, attentive but confused.

"It was nice meeting you, Cyd," I called over my shoulder with a smile in her direction, not bothering to speak to Devland. "Thank you for brightening my day with your coffee."

"You're welcome, dear."

She smiled, once again rubbing her hands against her apron. She gave Devland a reprimanding look—the kind that didn't need words to make your point clear—before shuffling back into the kitchen. I liked her. She was easy to be around, but I felt like I was missing something. She and Devland had some sort of connection they'd left unspoken, and as far as I knew, secrets were lies.

And lies could be lethal.

* * * * *

"So, what happened at breakfast?" I asked Maible an hour later as I tried on clothes in an identical stall beside the one that she occupied. I wasn't interested in getting new clothes but had wanted an excuse to get out of the Manor and talk about what I'd seen. I had waited while we'd gone back to my room for her to tell me, but she hadn't spoken. Maible hadn't brought it up in the car or in the first store that we'd found, and my patience was worn.

"What do you mean?" Her voice was muffled, and I heard the ruffling of clothes before the top she'd been wearing dropped to the floor.

I sighed and opened my door to step out. "Let me see what it looks like."

"It's too snug."

"Show me."

She stepped out of her dressing room and my eyes bulged. It wasn't too snug; it was just tight enough. The cobalt blue sundress she wore hung on her curves in all the right places, its deep shade bringing out the intensity in her eyes. Of course, it would have looked even better if she lost the jeans underneath and wore the right bra so that the straps weren't visible. Overlooking the obvious, the results were electric. I could imagine her dark hair down against her creamy shoulders, hanging in ringlets and tempting all the boys.

Who would have guessed a supermodel vixen had been hidden beneath her librarian façade?

"You need to buy that." I clapped, smiling. I hadn't found anything I liked and was already dressed back in my street clothes, but if she got the dress, I'd feel as though our outing had been successful. "You look hot."

She looked in the mirror, self-deprecating. When she glanced back up and shook her head, her eyes were shiny and her smile shaky. I could tell that she wanted it, loving the way she looked and, I imagined, felt in it.

"What size are you?" I smiled.

"You're not buying it for me." She closed the change room door behind her to cut off the conversation.

"Oh, come on! You look so good."

"No."

"Why not?"

She grunted from behind the door.

"I want to get it for you. Please?"

"No."

"Okay, but if you don't let me buy it now, I'm just going to come back later and get it for you," I said, lowering my voice as she stepped back out of the stall with the dress slung over her arm, glaring. "Don't bother telling the sales people not to sell it to me. They'll agree with you only until I come back, cash in hand, and a return trip will probably include shoes and accessories."

Her gaze narrowed further, and I continued to smile. "Fine."

I clapped and jumped with excitement. I wasn't used to getting my way after being friends with Nancy for so long. The two of us were both too stubborn to give in, though I had to admit she'd coaxed me into getting more than one outfit I'd have otherwise talked myself out of buying. "Yes!"

"On one condition." Maible smiled this time.

She wasn't supposed to be barter with me. "What's that?"

"You have to come somewhere with me, and I get to treat you."

"Treat me to what?" I appraised her out of the corner of my eye. Who negotiated the terms for accepting a gift?

"That's a surprise." Her eyes lit up with excitement. "Do you agree?"

"Is it a tattoo?"

"No?"

"Some sort of body piercing?"

"God, no!" She laughed.

"Is it anything that'll hurt me or sentence me to a life spent in prison?"

"Not even close," she said and crossed an invisible X over her heart. "It won't hurt, send you to prison, or change your appearance—at least not forever, anyway."

I sighed, hoping that I wouldn't regret it, but I was too curious not to go for it. "And it won't embarrass me come Monday at school?"

She shrugged. "It shouldn't."

"Fine." I held out my hand for the dress. If she made me regret this, I'd make her wear the dress every damn day to remind her that she'd let me down.

"Let's hurry," Maible said and brought out her phone to start texting.

It wasn't until long after I dropped her off the next night that I remembered she hadn't explained what had happened at breakfast. When we'd come back from shopping, we had been greeted by a delivery of boxes that had arrived while we'd been out. Julian's mom had sent me some more of my mom's things. Maible spent another night—more sleepless than the first—helping me sort through it.