Confined (A Tethered Novel, Book 3) (22 page)

In my mind, I was back at Theo’s house, locked in his arms,
embraced within his kiss. Our bodies were tangled against one another, our
breaths merging between us into one. He pulled my head to the side, exposing my
neck to him the same way Kace sometimes did—the way that turned me on, but I’d
never admit to—and trailed his lips across the skin there. His warm hand
pressed just a little under the waistband of my shorts as his lips continued in
their blissful trail.

After unbuttoning my shorts, he tugged them downward. They
fell to my ankles, and I slipped out of them carefully. His hands glided down
my hips, and his thumbs hooked themselves with the side strings of my panties.
Theo’s lips slid down the length of my body, just barely grazing the skin in
their descent, and paused above my panty line.

“Morning, have you talked with Kace yet?” Callie asked,
startling me from my vivid daydream, as she sauntered into the kitchen, still
rubbing sleep from her eyes.

Clearing my throat, I took a small sip of my tea. My stomach
tightened at the mention of Kace, especially with the thoughts that had been
swirling through my mind.

“No, he still isn’t answering my calls,” I said. “We’re
going on about thirty-seven hours of not speaking.”

Callie grabbed a box of cereal from on top of the fridge and
poured herself a bowl. Opening the fridge, she got out the milk and splashed
some over her dry cereal. I watched her as she placed everything back where it
went and rummaged through the silverware drawer for a spoon. Not finding one,
she crossed the kitchen and got one from the dishwasher.

“I’m sorry,” she said. Her words were so sincere that I felt
a swift pang of shame slither through me.

The fact was I didn’t blame Kace for not speaking to me. If
I were him, I wouldn’t speak to me either.

“I’m sure he’ll come around soon,” Callie said. She plopped
down in the chair across from me and began eating. “He probably just needs some
time.”

I nodded and took another sip of my tea. “Maybe. I wouldn’t
blame him if he didn’t want to see me anymore after all of this, though.”

“He will,” Callie said confidently around a mouthful of
food.

“I think I hurt him pretty badly,” I admitted.

The image of his face from the other day, when he’d asked me
if everything between Theo and I was simply the tether or if it was something
more, flashed through my mind. How completely crushed he’d looked. How he’d
walked out of my kitchen—out of my house—without even looking back at me once.

“Like I said, he’ll come around soon.” She flashed me a
closed-mouth smile. “He has to if he ever wants to use his magick again,
doesn’t he?”

I glared at her from across the table. My lips twisted into
a smirk, and I laughed out loud.

“Seriously, I did not expect that to come out of your mouth.
Adam, maybe. But you, no way. I think your boyfriend is rubbing off on you.”

Callie swallowed her mouthful of cereal. “I didn’t mean it
to sound so harsh. All I’m saying is he’ll eventually come around. You guys
might not be
together
anymore when he does, but being friends is better
than nothing, right?”

Friends
. The idea of Kace and I being nothing besides
friends had never crossed my mind. Wouldn’t that be strange? I’d never been
friends
with any of my old boyfriends before and never with one I had slept with. How
did you even do that? Wasn’t it always destined to be awkward afterward?

I was getting ahead of myself.

“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see,” I said.

Finishing off my tea, I walked to the sink to rinse out my
mug.

“So, have you talked with your mom about anything yet?” I
asked, purposely shifting the conversation off my life and onto hers.

Callie frowned at her cereal. “Umm, not really.”

I sauntered to the fridge, hoping there was one more bagel
left. Rummaging around, I finally found one tucked in the back. Grabbing it
out, as well as the cream cheese, I set them both on the counter.

“I have no problem with you staying here; I’m just wondering
when you plan on talking with her?” I asked carefully. “I mean, you can’t avoid
her forever. I’m not upset with her for what she did anymore and I don’t think
you should hold a grudge either.”

Peeling apart my bagel, I placed the two halves in the slots
of the toaster. Casting a quick glance over my shoulder at Callie, I pushed the
button down to toast it. She was slouched in her chair, pushing her cereal
around in her bowl with her spoon, her head propped up by her left hand.

She didn’t speak for a while, instantly making me wish I
hadn’t chosen this topic for a subject change.

“I know.” She sighed. “I guess I just need a little time.”

My bagel popped up, and I carefully plucked it from the
toaster and placed it onto a paper towel.

“I guess there’s a lot of that needed around here,” I said.

“A lot of what needed?” she asked.

“Time,” I answered with a small smile.

I smeared cream cheese on my bagel, and then looked at the
clock near the back door. I had to be to work in just under an hour. My stomach
twisted at the thought of seeing Admer, and suddenly I wasn’t as hungry as I
thought I was.

“I don’t want to go to work,” I muttered. I walked across the
kitchen to sit down at the table with Callie.

She crinkled her nose. “I bet. Are you planning on telling
him the tether didn’t break?”

“I’m not sure.”

And I wasn’t. I didn’t know if I wanted Admer to know it
hadn’t been broken. All I kept thinking about was what Kyra had said—how it
could have all been a lie. Which led me to wonder why he would want me to
become initiated so badly.

Callie’s cell went off and she reached out to swipe it off
the table. I took a small bite of my bagel, not really wanting it anymore, but
knowing that I had to put something besides tea in my stomach.

She took in a sharp breath, and then her fingers and thumbs
went flying across the keyboard of her phone.

“What?” I asked, curious.

Callie set her phone down and neglected to meet my stare. I
drew my eyebrows together and took another small bite of my bagel.

“Is everything okay?” I asked, concerned.

“Umm, well…I don’t know if I should even be saying this to
you.” Her voice shook when she spoke. She bit at her thumbnail before continuing.
“Adam just sent me a text saying he was down at the beach, delivering some food
to one of his parent’s friends before he came here to visit me, and…” She
didn’t finish.

“And what?” I pressed.

“He said he saw Kace sitting at the beach with…
Kyra
.”
Her voice dipped off to a near whisper when she said Kyra’s name.

My heart dropped to my stomach like a rock. Straightening my
posture, I took another bite of my bagel before I spoke.

“What were they doing? Were they like
together
together?”
I asked, hoping I didn’t sound as near tears as I felt.

Images from Theo’s house—when Kace had first seen Kyra and
then those from when we were leaving—flashed through my mind. Had she really
captivated him so much that he would move on from me that quickly?

Regardless of what had happened between us the other day,
him moving on so fast stung. Hard.

“I don’t know. Adam will be here in a minute; maybe he’ll
know something more,” she said. Her voice was still low. It lacked the type of
reassurance that I needed to hear right now.

I pushed my bagel away, deciding now—with my nerves being in
such a bundle—might not be the best time to force food into my stomach.

Callie and I didn’t have to wait long before Adam got to my
house. Once she let him in, hushed whispers began instantaneously between the
two. I couldn’t make out what they were saying to one another, but I knew it
involved me in some way. And Kace. And Kyra.

I was still sitting at the table in the kitchen, staring
down at my half-eaten bagel, when the two of them walked in. Adam spoke without
me having to ask a single question.

“Hey, Avery,” he said. I’d never heard him use such a
forlorn tone with anyone before, let alone me. “I know you and Kace are going
through a rough patch right now, but I don’t think what I saw was anything to
worry about. It was probably just the two of them saying hey or something. A
random meeting by chance sort of thing.”

His words were a lie.

I could tell right away, because he sucked at lying. He was
merely attempting to alleviate the situation as well as my hurt feelings. I’d
been right about him; he wasn’t such a bad guy after all.

“What exactly did you see?” I asked point-blank. I wasn’t
entirely sure I wanted an honest answer, or that I even deserved one, but I
asked the question anyway.

Adam ran his hand along the back of his neck and dropped his
eyes to the tiled floor of my kitchen. “The two of them sitting side by side
and talking,” he said.

“Were they laughing or sitting really close?” I pressed.
“Deep in conversation maybe? What?”

Adam nodded. “Sort of all of the above. At least that’s what
it looked like from where I was standing. I can’t be sure though, because I
wasn’t sitting with them.”

Closing my eyes, I took in a deep breath. My legs began to
tremble beneath the table, and I felt my eyes prick with tears. I’d lost him.
I’d lost Kace to Kyra. In my heart, I was positive of this.

My chair squeaked against the tiled floor as I pushed it
away from the table to stand up. I could feel Adam and Callie’s eyes on me as I
left the kitchen, but I didn’t meet their stare.

“I’m sorry,” Callie said as I passed her.

I flashed her a small smile. “It’s okay. I’m fine. Really. I
mean, I practically cheated on the guy…
twice
. Why would I be upset when
he moves on?”

I left the room before I cried tears that should never leave
my eyes in this type of situation.

After a long, hot shower and a dip into my hidden stash of
chocolates, I headed downstairs and out the door to work. People say bad things
often come in threes; I prayed those people were wrong, because finding out
about Kace and Kyra was enough of a bad thing to deal with for one day for me.

I pulled into a parking space just a little down from
Spellbinding Reads, and cut the engine of my Jeep. Hunkering my body over the
steering wheel, I attempted to calm my nervous heartbeat before I headed
inside. I hadn’t seen Admer since the night of the initiation and I didn’t know
if the first thing he would ask me was whether the tether had been broken, but
I was sure it would eventually come up sometime today.

Did he know what he’d suggested wouldn’t work or had he been
just as clueless about it as the rest of us, including Theo? Was it too much to
ask for him to have forgotten about the whole thing?

I slowly climbed out of my Jeep and closed the door. The sun
went behind gray clouds, and a slight breeze began to blow. It ruffled my hair
and made me think of Theo. Again. Scolding myself mentally for being so
pathetic, I pushed the door to Spellbinding Reads open and nearly walked right
into a customer coming out.