BLOOD SECRETS

CHAPTER 10

x

"Were you with her earlier?" I asked, quietly.

"No. I wasn't."

"What about the mud on your shoes?"

"It was muddy when I went out to give something for a friend." He paused. "What did you do to her?"

"I don't remember," I whispered.

"Nothing at all?"

I looked at my hands. "Nothing."

"You're not lying to me, are you?" he finally asked.

"No," I lied. I watched him for a moment. "You're telling me the truth, right?"

Prince looked at me. "Of course."

Looking back, I don't think either of us spoke the truth.

x

I turned around and started walking away from Prince because he was completely right — once again.

"You can walk away from me but you can't walk away from the truth," Prince said quietly as he followed me out of the main office and into the corridor.

"You don't know what you're accusing me of," I replied in a controlled tone.

Prince grasped my wrist. "Two years away from me and you've already forgotten that I know all your tells when you lie?"

I stopped and slowly looked up at him. Then to the way he held my wrist. I gritted my teeth. "You're going to start another rumor about us."

Prince's gold and emerald eyes flickered to the stares of the students loitering in the corridor before looking back to me. He narrowed his eyes. "When did you start caring about what other people thought of us?"

"When we were accused of murder," I responded sharply, pulling away from his touch.

Prince slackened his hold on me. I fled out the doors, ignoring the whispers of gossip behind me. Of course, he followed outside, but at least he didn't stop me again physically. I desperately breezed through the academy's floral garden terrace.

"Alex," Prince called out after me. I ignored him and kept walking into the hedge maze. "Alex, stop."

"So what if I did?" I whirled around to face him. "So what if I sent that tip in, Prince?"

He worked his jaw once. Twice. Then, he finally asked, "Why? Why did you do it?"

The tips of my lips quirked up in a mocking sort of way. "How does it feel to be kept in the dark?"

"You were always one to hold grudges."

"Grudges? No. I just assume that people like to be treated the way they treat others."

"You know damn well why I treated you the way I did," Prince's chest heaved. "Why I didn't tell you the things I should have."

"Do I?" I said, so softly. He was so close to me that I could feel the tension strain. "I don't think I do, Prince."

He combed his hand through his dark curls in frustration. "Don't change the subject, Alex."

"This is what we do," I said, running a hand through my hair in disbelief. "We fight. We argue. We avoid."