beautiful thieves | ✓

twenty-nine

Blake

Aurora leaves the bathroom, and slowly my heart returns to a normal, human pace. I don't know- I still don't fucking know- why it's been hammering against my chest throughout the time we've spent together today. Maybe it's because she reminds me of Hattie. I don't know.

As soon as she's gone, I throw the blood-soaked flannel into the bin before leaving the room myself, jogging up the stairs. I'm heading to Danielle's office when a small weight lands on my back and arms wrap around my neck. I turn my head to smile at Maeve, before yanking her arms away and dropping her onto the floor.

I turn to see her sat on the floor, pouting at me. "You're a dick."

"Love you too, Maeve," I chuckle, helping her up from the floor. I would push her back down again, but I figure that's a bit mean.

We high five with both hands, before Maeve glances back down the corridor. "I just saw Aurora with blood all over her top," she tells me. "Do you know what happened?"

"She just had a nosebleed. It's probably damaged after what Victoria did to her," I explain.

"Victoria?" Maeve asks in disbelief.

Shit. Shouldn't have said that. "Shh," I say quickly.

Maeve's voice drops to a whisper, but she's not exactly quiet. "It was Victoria who was standing in our garden?"

"And who attacked Aurora? Yeah."

Maeve's eyes are wide with fear in a reaction very similar to Aurora's. I swear, those two are practically twins at this point, which is understandable. Maeve is everyone's younger sister here. "What does this mean?"

"I'm not sure," I say honestly. "But I'm going to talk to Danielle."

She makes a face. "Good luck."

Placing a hand on her shoulder, I give her a smile with as much reassurance as possible. "We'll be fine."

We part and I head down the corridor to stand by Danielle's office, listening in to make sure she's not with someone else- namely Adam, as I've walked into the two of them making out like horny teenagers one too many times. I give the door a gentle knock and hear a 'come in' from the other side.

Danielle barely looks surprised to see me, sitting at her desk and wearing a different, revealing dress to the one she was wearing earlier. She rests her head against the back of her chair and smiles as I make my way over, but I struggle to smile back.

"What is it?" she asks. She sounds drained, and I feel bad about stressing her out more, but this needs to be said.

"How are you holding up?" I ask first, purely because I'm genuinely concerned.

"I'm fine," she says, resting her head on her hand. "Throwing one of the Drakan Thieves into a cell is just the cherry on top of a fantastic month."

"Damn," I chuckle. "Didn't realise I'd ordered sarcasm for afternoon tea."

"You've known me a long time, Blake. You should be used to it by now."

I feel her eyes on me as I wander around the office, picking up random ornaments as if they're the most interesting things in the world.

"You're doing it again," Danielle sings, slipping off her heels and resting her feet up on the desk.

I glance at her. "Doing what?"

"Pacing around when you have something important to say but don't know how to start," she says. I give her a look and feign confusion, as if I don't know what she's talking about, but I really do. I hate sitting down for long periods of time, and I especially hate doing so when there's something important to discuss. There's something wrong with the wiring in my brain, I swear. "I'll ask again. What is it?"