Écarté (Lost Birds Book 4)

Part 32 Lies

I couldn't hear anything from out in the hallway which was a little surprising with how rundown the building appeared to be. The thought of Adrian having a sound proofed, hidden, basement made me even more queasy than seeing Stephan had.

I don't know how long I stared at the door. I wanted to go back in. I needed to know what Stephan was saying, what they were doing, anything. I wasn't even sure why I'd followed Sab's order to leave when I had. Maybe on some level I knew what was happening. On that same level I knew Sab wasn't asking me to leave because I couldn't handle what they were doing but because they couldn't handle me seeing that side of them.

When the door finally opened I had to blink twice just to make sure I wasn't seeing things. Tao held it open and took a step back for me to come in. His black jeans were wet and the grey shirt he'd been wearing earlier was gone. My eyes were immediately drawn to the skeleton grim reaper that covered his entire side. They flicked up to the beautiful image of a woman decorated perfectly to look like a sugar skull and then finally all the way up to his warm golden brown eyes. There were so many emotions stuffed just beneath the surface of his gaze that it made my own chest ache in response.

I understood without him having to say a word. Everything about this was wrong. Everything they had shoved away as their past was coming back to haunt them. They'd ended up right back here trapped between wrong and wicked with no possible right way to do this. Before turning toward the rest of the room I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around Tao. I needed him to know that no matter what had happened in here I still wanted him. I still loved him. And when his arms squeezed me back I could feel just a sliver of tension leave him.

I didn't have to ask once I turned to look. One glance at Stephan's coughing, bleeding, and drenched form and I knew that he still hadn't talked. His chair was tipped over on it's back. Tao's shirt and the old hose sat somewhere nearby, but I didn't want to focus on those. Instead I turned my focus to Sab.

He was watching me just as closely as Tao but with none of the lingering fear. I knew this about him already, so he had little concern for my reaction to seeing his darker side. He still had his shirt on. There was some water on his pants as well but not his shirt. The biggest difference between Sab and Tao was that Sabbatians knuckles were busted and bleeding.

"I thought you said no marks?" I asked curiously as I approached.

Sab shrugged.

"Your boyfriends don't like to hear about how weak you are." Stephan tried to laugh but Tao stepped toward him and he cringed so hard it put him into another round of coughing fits.

"He says he doesn't know." Tao said not taking his eyes off of Stephan.

"But he does." Sab added and even I found myself nodding in agreement. There was no way he didn't know.

"So we need to know how far you want us to take this?" Tao said his eyes flickering with the same fear from before.

Both Sab and Tao stared at me waiting. It was the same way they waited for Aydan to give orders.

"Maybe we should call..." I didn't say Aydan just in case Stephan was too stupid to know exactly who he had kidnapped.

Sab and Tao both shook their heads.

"We don't want him to become an accomplice to... this..." Tao gestured toward Stephan and the stuff surrounding him.

"What about the... uhm..." I couldn't say Academy. Stephan didn't need to know about that, and it was supposed to be a big secret anyway. "They don't allow this kind of thing, do they?" I asked.