Wild and Out of Control

|chapter thirty three|

xaden

"Did something happen between the two of you that I, as your Section Leader and best friend, should know about?" Garrick asks me as I throw another piece of parchment in the trash.

     I'm supposed to be writing my Wing's monthly report for the Quadrant, but every report I write is wrong. I either forget to add a Squad or get the Squad leaders' names messed up. This doesn't happen. I don't mess up on reports and certainly don't get distracted to the point where I can't think straight.

     And it all has one common denominator: Danica fucking Hawthorne.

     I close my eyes, holding my quill with a death grip until it eventually snaps, spilling ink onto yet another ruined report. I turn to face Garrick. "No. Nothing happened that should concern you. I'm just..." I trail off as I look for the right words.

     "Pussy-whipped?" he finished for me.

     I send a tendril of my shadows to smack him on the back of the head with a pillow. That smug bastard and his smug smirk. I don't remember why I chose him as a section leader.

     "Because he's your best friend and most trusted ally," Sgaeyl's voice floats in my head.

     "Not necessarily. I still have Bodhi," I shoot back.

     "I thought you disowned him after he slept with Danica?" I can almost hear her laughter. "Or was that just talk?"

     My mood sours at the reminder. "How do you even know about that?" I clench my fist around the broken quill hard enough that it breaks the skin of my hands. Blood spills down my arms and onto the pile of parchment.

     "Doesn't matter. But did you disown him or not?"

     "No, of course not. He's my only family." But I did beat him to a pulp. The bastard still walked afterward, though.

     "Xaden!" Garrick waves his hand in front of my face. "Did you even hear a word I said?" He gives me a weird look as he takes my hand in his.

     I narrow my eyes, placing my foot in the hills of Tyrrendor and blocking Sgaeyl's laugh from my mind. I snatch my hand back from his and look at the shallow cut from the broken quill. "I can take care of myself. And," I add, giving a pointed look at him, "I was paying attention. You were talking about something that was none of your gods-damn business." Fuck. I'm sounding like Danger now.

     He furrows his eyebrows. "Monthly reports aren't my business?" Then it's like something lit up in him. "You weren't paying attention! So you are pussy-whipped! Or at least distracted by her."

     "Why do you sound so excited?" I open one of the drawers in my desk, grab a wrap, and tend to the wound. All the while Garrick chuckles from beside me.

     He's about to answer before erratic knocking fills my room. I swear to fuck if this is who I think it is they'll have a fist to their face. I throw open the door and sure enough Bodhi and Imogen stand on the other side, Bodhi's arms raised. "Xaden!" He pushes me back until my thighs hit the bed and I fall onto the mattress. Before I can say anything, he's in my face. "When were you going to tell us you finally made the move on Danica?" He pokes my shoulder. "Hmm?"

     I breathe through my nose and out through my mouth. "I don't know what you're talking about." I stand and push him away as I sit back behind my desk. 

     Imogen snorts. "Yeah, right. Like I didn't just see Hawthorne walking out of your bunk wearing your shirt. But, really Xaden? At Montserrat? Even I know that was risky, with everything that happened afterward."