Shadowed (Unbound, Book 2)

Chapter Thirty Six

"So, you're saying..." I shook my head and looked up from watching my hands pull grass to meet his gaze. "You're saying that Duvessa pulled a bunch of pranks and framed me for them? Then Devland let me be punished? Right." I rolled my eyes. "That's believable."

"Where are you going?"

Calin reached out and put his hand on my arm to keep me from standing. I looked down to his hand and then to him, and he let go. For once, I felt nothing. The usual pull being this close to him effected was absent. Whether it was because what he said sounded too ridiculous to be true or that I wanted to believe, I didn't know. Compared to everything else I'd realized, it seemed pretty plausible.

I got to my feet and brushed the grass from my jeans. "I need some time to think about this."

"You don't believe me?"

"Would you?"

"Oh, come on, Nora. Do you really think it's normal that you call your dad by his first name?"

"It's nothing!" I glanced away, worried he'd see the doubt he planted take root. "I call him dad sometimes." Even if it feels wrong.

He didn't move to stand beside me or deny how crazy what he said sounded. But studying him as he watched me in return, showing no emotion at all, made it too hard to disregard what he said. Even if it all wasn't true, it was obvious that some part of it was.

"Okay, so Duvessa?" I nodded. "What you say about her I might believe. I mean, you all said to be careful around her, and no matter how nice she was, I felt holes in the possibility that she was my friend. But why would she do it? There's no reason."

"Me." He shrugged as though that made perfect sense.

"I'm sorry?" I blinked. "We never dated."

"No," he said, laughing as he shook his head, "but I was dating Duvessa when..." He stopped, his jaw ticking. Then he raised his fist to his mouth and coughed. "Duvessa thinks I broke up with her for you."

I stared at him, unblinking, and swallowed. "Did you?"

"No! I broke up with her because of her. For me." He poked himself in the chest with his finger. "I wanted to break up with her long before she targeted you."

"So, then what? I don't get it."

"Seeing the way she was with you—the fact that she pulled pranks that could have hurt people—gave me the reason I needed," he said. "Do I like you?" He nodded and looked away, and his voice grew softer. "Since the first moment I saw you, I knew we were inevitable."

"So your ex persecuted me?" I felt myself leaning towards him as though proximity would provide me with the answered I sought, like being close to him would transfer the information without my having to yank it out of him.

"It's complicated."

"Don't hold back now! You've shared so much already." Rolling my eyes, I stepped back, just out of reach. Obviously, being near me did nothing to affect his resolution.

Calin jumped to his feet and reached for me, but his hand found air.

"I told you, I need to think," I said.

"For how long?"

I pulled his car keys from my pocket and tossed them to him. "However long it takes."

"Nora..." He reached out, but then dropped his hand. "Be careful around Duvessa."

"You said she framed me, not hurt me."

His eyebrows lifted and he met my stare. "Except that you fell off a boat."

"You think that...?" I shook my head and took another step back, and then another. "No. She couldn't. I have to go."