For one long second, no one in the kitchen moved.
Not me.
Not Mara.
Not Kade.
The message on the phone screen sat there between us like something alive:
She should know he asked for the delay himself.
A perfect sentence.
That was the first thing I hated about it.
Perfectly aimed. Perfectly timed. Perfectly cruel.
Selene always knew where to place the knife.
Mara handed the phone back to Kade with visible disgust. “She really is committed to being unbearable.”
I looked at him.
He was already looking at me.
And in that one second, I knew two things.
First: he understood exactly what that message was meant to do.
Second: he was trying very hard not to move too quickly in response to whatever had just crossed my face.
That hurt more than if he had reached for me instantly.
Bec
