A Slave to Broken Hearts (A Slave to Love Sequel)

Chapter 47: Ripples

Blade POV

It was a dark and cloudy day, which was perfect for an afternoon ride, and so Eliza and I set out again. I felt weirdly nervous about it, as I did whenever we hung out. Maybe I had known her forever, but each time we met up it felt like the first time all over again, a little bit tongue tied, a little bit confused, a little bit out of my element, like the world was made of quick sand and one wrong move would take me under sooner rather than later. 

We were barely through the dense trees surrounding the trail before my phone chimed with a message and it was in my hand before the sound even finished.

"Something wrong?" she asked, startled by my sudden lunge for it.

It was just Lexi, asking about when we were meeting for more self defense, so I pocketed my phone for the moment, trying to swallow some of my stress. "No. Just my sister."

"You reached for it pretty fast," she remarked.

"Did I?"

"You did. Are you expecting a call?"

"No."

She frowned at me, but it was the truth. I wasn't expecting any sort of message or call, and in fact, silence was almost more comforting than getting a notification of any sort these days.

Almost.

Not too long later, my phone went off again. This time, I gave it two seconds before I reached for it. Seeing Kiana's name flash across the screen made my throat close, till I saw what the message actually was, that everything was okay.

I'd never been this fucking paranoid in my life.

Kiana: when are you free? Lexi wants to continue the lessons asap.

Blade: tomorrow morning?

Kiana: i finish work at 6.

Blade: pick you up?

Kiana: no wait. Lexi's busy tomorrow night.

Blade: we can do it without her?

Kiana: fine. come to my apartment then.

Blade: 6:30?

Kiana: k.

K.

Though this had become the regular tone of our messages lately, and outwardly it was probably fairly standard considering we were making plans and not holding a real conversation, it still felt ridiculously cold compared to how we used to text. Hell, we had never sunk as low as a measley 'k.'; even if she was annoyed she would at least write 'ok', which had never seemed much better or different before but it seemed pretty significant now. 

When I pocketed my cell and looked up, Eliza was staring at me from her mount, not even trying to hide her curiosity.

"What?" I asked.

"Lexi again?" she asked as she combed her fingers through her horse's mane.

"Lexi, through Kiana this time," I explained. "She doesn't take being ignored well."

"Most people don't."

"True, but she should be used to it by now. Especially considering how damn often she ignores me."

"I suppose she's a 'do as I say, not as I do' kind of person?"

I snorted. "That about sums her up, yes."

Particularly the 'do as I say' bit. That just screamed 'Lexi'.

"Maybe I could meet her some time, properly, unlike our brief introduction where she took off," she said, peeking up at me.