CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
ZADE
I stop mid-stride in the hallway, the elevator doors sliding shut without me.
My mind is a chaotic mess of cold logic and a new, irritating heat.
Mio follows close behind, her eyes wide as she realizes I've practically abandoned my own breakfast.
"She texted. She said her landlord called—it was an emergency," Mio says, slipping her phone back into her pocket with a worried frown.
"She's an idiot," I growl, the image of Alice's pale face etched into my brain.
"She might fall unconscious just walking down the street. She has no business being out there alone."
"God, you're right, Zade..." Mio's panic spikes.
"I'm leaving. You have your
breakfast—I had mine before I came over. I'll see you at the university!"
She practically sprints toward the stairs, leaving me standing in the silence of my own penthouse.
I make my way back inside, but the apartment feels different.
It feels crowded with the ghost of her presence. For a moment, all I can see is the bluish-grey of Alice's eyes from that split second of eye contact in the kitchen.
Everything had blurred.
The world had stopped. And all I could see were those eyes.
Fuck. Fucking fuck.
This is disturbing. It shouldn't be this way. She was supposed to be a toy, a distraction.
Now, she's a pulse under my skin that I can't stop.
I grab a container and mechanically fill it with the breakfast Mio and I had made.
When I walk back into the bedroom to grab my gear, I stop short. The sheets are perfectly made.
The little shit. Even when she's drifting in and out of a concussion, she has the audacity to show pride.
She wouldn't even leave a wrinkled blanket in my house. My gaze drifts to the nightstand, and my blood runs cold.
The glass case.
It's sitting right where I left it.
The—she didn't take them. She'd rather navigate the world in a blur than accept a single thing from me.
"The Witch... dammit," I mutter, snatching the case and shoving it into my blazer pocket.
Twenty minutes later, I'm stepping out of my car at Oakhaven when my phone buzzes.
I check the caller ID and freeze.
Ellie?
Why the hell is she calling me? We don't call each other. I pick it up, my voice tight.
"Zade, it's me... Ellie..."
Her voice is frantic, vibrating with a level of panic that sets my teeth on edge. My mind immediately goes to Nate—is she in pain? Is something wrong with the her in her this situation?
"I know it's you, Ellie, but what happened? Are you okay?" I'm already moving, scanning the crowd for Nate.
That motherfucker needs to be with her if she's spiraling.
"I'm alright, it's Alice..." Ellie gasps, her breath coming in ragged hitches.
"She just... she went slump against me while we were talking. I tried to call Nate, but he isn't picking up. Can you come to the ladies' bathroom? Please... Zade, she just went cold and now she's burning up again..."
The blood in my veins seems to freeze solid.
The guilt I'd been trying to outrun for weeks finally catches up and tackles me.
It's my fault. If I hadn't hit her, if I hadn't let her walk out of that penthouse today, she wouldn't be dying on a bathroom floor.
"I'm coming, Ellie. Stay with her."
I don't just walk.
I run.
I ignore the stares of the students as I sprint through the halls, bursting into the ladies' room without a second thought.
I push the door open to find a scene from a nightmare.
Ellie looks one second away from a total mental break, and Alice...
Alice is as white as a sheet, her head lolling back, her body limp in Ellie's arms.
"Zade..." Ellie's voice breaks as she points toward her.
Without wasting a single second, I scoop Alice up.
She's even lighter than she was last
night—a fragile, broken bird.
I tuck her against my chest, her heat radiating through my shirt.
We stumble out of the bathroom just as Nate comes charging down the hallway.
His eyes go wide, taking in the sight of me carrying a semi-conscious Alice and a sobbing Ellie.
"Ellie?" He practically lunges for her, grabbing her shoulders just as her legs finally give out.
"What happened, Zade?" Nate asks, his voice thick with terror as he pulls Ellie into his chest.
"I don't know," I say, my voice sounding like it's coming from someone else.
"When she called, Alice was already under. Ellie was the only one there."
I don't wait for him to respond.
I turn and start toward the infirmary, my strides long and desperate.
I try to tell myself that if I hadn't hit her, I wouldn't give a flying fuck about her.
I try to tell myself this is just damage control.
But the thought feels wrong.
It feels like a lie. And as I look down at her pale, freckled face,
I realize that the dangerous game I was playing?
I've already lost.