Page 272 of What We Bury

I stand. My legs are trembling, but they hold. I look at Odin—composed, watching, revealing nothing—and something in my chest hardens into stone.

“Thank you for the offer,” I say, and my voice is ice and acid and every ugly thing I’ve ever swallowed. “But no, thank you. I’d rather stay here and continue being the whore they pass around than run away because a man who doesn’t have the guts to love me thinks I should.”

I turn to Eli. He’s standing rigid, hands still in his pockets, jaw clenched so hard I can see the muscle jumping. His eyes are red-rimmed. He won’t look at me.

“I never picked you for a fucking coward, Eli Ward.”

I step close enough to spit at his feet and walk out.

The corridor is a blur. The door slams behind me and I’m in the bar, bright and empty. But Knox is there wiping a glass that’s been clean for twenty minutes—and Micah’s beside him, leaning against the bar with his jacket on, waiting.

They didn’t leave. Of course they didn’t leave.

Both of them straighten the second they see my face.

“Sage.” Knox sets the glass down. “What happened?”

“What’s wrong?” Micah is already moving toward me, hands reaching. “What did he say to you?”

I shake my head. If I open my mouth, I’m going to scream or sob or both, and I can’t do that here, not in this building, not where the walls remember every sound.

“Take me home,” I manage. “Please. Just take me home.”

SEVENTY-FOUR

MICAH

Knox comes back downstairs with murder on his face.

He doesn’t say anything. Doesn’t need to. He sat in the living room for forty minutes while Sage sobbed into his chest, his arms wrapped around her like a fortress, his jaw locked so tight I could hear his teeth grinding from across the room. He held her while she shook and choked and said things between sobs that I’ll never unhear.

“He said I was easy, he said none of it was real, that it was just fun. An orgy?—”

Knox held her through every word, absorbing her hurt.

When she finally went quiet, passed out from exhaustion, he lifted her off the couch and carried her upstairs to the bedroom without a word. I heard the door close. The creak of the mattress. Then nothing.

Now he’s at the bottom of the stairs, and every line of his body says the same thing.

“What are we going to do?” I ask.

Knox looks at me. “We beat the shit out of Eli. That’s what we do.”

He starts toward the front door. I’m on my feet and in his path before I’ve made the conscious decision to move.

“No. Knox, stop.”

“Move, Micah. He made Fury cry.”

“Calm the fuck down for a second?—”

“I am calm. This is me calm.” His voice is low and lethal. “He stood in a room and told her she was nothing. He looked her in the eye and said she was easy. I’m going to find him and I’m going to make him explain what part of that was necessary, and if his explanation isn’t good enough, I’m going to break his hands and shove them so far up his ass he chokes on his own fingers.”

“Okay. But if you hurt him, you could do more harm than good. Sage could end up hurt byyouractions.” I put both hands on his chest. It’s like trying to stop a landslide with your palms, but he pauses. “I know you don’t want that.”

He relaxes slightly, letting out a slow breath. I lower my hands.

“There has to be an explanation,” I continue, raking a hand through my hair. “You know Eli. You know how he operates—he pushes people away. That’s what this is. He’s trying to protect her by driving her away.”