Total pages in book: 33
Estimated words: 31414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 157(@200wpm)___ 126(@250wpm)___ 105(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 31414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 157(@200wpm)___ 126(@250wpm)___ 105(@300wpm)
After filling my plate, I took the seat next to Lainie. Talon didn’t say a word, but I noticed how he shifted slightly, angling himself to face us more directly.
After we finished eating, Lainie grabbed her travel mug and slung her bag over one shoulder with a dramatic sigh. “I feel weird leaving before it’s safe for you to come back. Maybe I should—”
“Nope,” I cut in firmly. “It was one thing to skip Tuesday since you only had one class. But you can’t miss all three today. You’d fall too far behind.”
She shot me a guilty look anyway. “I know, but I feel like I’m abandoning you.”
“You’re not,” I said quickly, even though the knot in my stomach tightened the closer she got to the door. I wasn’t scared exactly...but without my best friend around, the reality of everything I was facing felt a lot heavier.
Lainie pulled me in for a quick hug. “I’ll text and call. Constantly. You won’t even have time to miss me.”
“Promise?” I whispered.
She grinned. “Cross my heart.”
Then she was gone, and I stood there a little too long, unsure what to do next. The easy rhythm I’d fallen into beside Lainie vanished the moment she left, and I suddenly felt out of place.
“You’re not alone.”
The deep voice came from just behind me, but I knew it belonged to Talon.
I turned to look at him, flashing him a small smile.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Relief swept through me so fast, it nearly made my knees buckle. But there was guilt mixed in with the feeling. “You don’t have to stay just for me. I’m sure you have other stuff you should be doing.”
“Cleared my schedule.” His eyes narrowed slightly. “You’re mine to protect.”
I wasn’t sure what to say, but my breath caught in my chest at the possessiveness in his tone.
The kitchen emptied out gradually, voices fading down the hallway until only Talon and I remained. He just stood there, arms crossed, watching me.
Finally, he said, “Come on.”
I followed him through a short hallway and out a heavy metal door that led to a small patio. A few chairs sat around a small table overlooking the trees.
The air smelled like pine, and the breeze cut through the lingering tension in my chest.
Talon pulled out one of the chairs for me, then took the one beside it, stretching his legs in front of him and bracing his hands on his thighs.
“We’ve been digging into what you found.” He jumped straight to it without any preamble. “Normally, I wouldn’t be able to share much about club business, but since you brought this to us, I can tell you some of it.”
“Like what?”
“We traced the file trail to a shell corporation based in Chicago. They’ve been funneling money into medical programs in smaller towns, mostly mobile clinics and experimental outreach efforts.”
My stomach twisted. “And?”
“Best we can tell, they’re running illegal biotech trials.” His jaw flexed. “Using underserved communities as guinea pigs. Minimal oversight. Shady consent protocols.”
I blinked, bile rising in the back of my throat. “The patients I couldn’t find…they were test subjects?”
He nodded once. “Looks like it.”
My fingers tightened around the armrests. “I knew something was off, but I didn’t think it was that bad.”
“You don’t mess with people’s health.” He shook his head, eyes fixed on a distant point in the trees. “Not for profit or convenience. And sure as hell not because you think no one will notice.”
A long silence stretched between us, broken only by the wind rustling through the leaves. He didn’t look at me, but I felt the shift in the air between us.
There was so much fury behind his words—but none of it was aimed at me. His anger cracked something open inside me.
“I lost my mom when I was fifteen,” I said softly, my gaze fixed on the trees too. It made it easier to get the words out. “She’d been having weird symptoms for months, but the doctors at the community clinic kept brushing her off. Said it was just stress. That she needed to rest more. Eat better. They barely ran any tests.”
Talon didn’t speak, but I felt the tension in him. How he stilled.
“She collapsed in our kitchen one morning,” I continued, my throat tightening as I remembered how scared I’d been back then. “By the time we got her to the hospital, it was too late. She had cancer. It was stage 4. If any of the doctors had taken her seriously before it had progressed that far, she might’ve had a chance.”
My voice wobbled, but I didn’t cry. I couldn’t, or I’d never stop.
Luckily, Talon remained silent. If he showed me even an ounce of sympathy, I would fall apart.
“My high school had a CNA training program. I signed up for it and earned my certification before I graduated.” I shrugged and flashed him a sad smile. “I want to be able to help people more, but I can’t afford to go to nursing school yet. I’ve been saving up for it ever since I got my job.”