Renegade (The Elysium Chronicles #1)(62)

Creeping toward the living room, I check every room along the way for something amiss. There aren’t many to check—only a bedroom and bathroom. I peer around the corner to the living room and knit my brows together. Nothing appears to be wrong. They’re both sitting and staring into space. Macie sits on her couch, her arms resting in her lap. She keeps glancing at the clock and wringing her hands.

Gavin sits in the armchair. There’s a tick in his jaw, just a tiny flutter every few seconds. His hands keep fisting and then unfisting, crumpling the material of his slacks.

I step through the doorway and both of their gazes fly over to me. At first there is relief in both of them, but Gavin’s quickly fades to anger. He shoves off the chair, stomps over to me, and grabs me.

My heart flutters a little, but I stand my ground. I’m not sure if it’s fear or something else that causes the flutter.

“What the hell were you thinking? Have you lost your damn mind? Do you realize what you just put me through? You could have been killed. I thought we were in this together. We were going to get out of here together. Remember?”

When he finally releases me, I wobble. We stare at each other, then he spins on his heel and disappears down the hall. A few seconds later the bathroom door shuts. It’s so close to a slam, I wince.

Macie clears her throat. She glances back at the hallway. “He was quite angry.”

“I thought he would be,” I say. Suddenly tired right down to my toes, I sit on the couch and rest my head on the back of it, closing my lids. “But it needed to be done.”

The couch squeaks when she sits next to me. “I take it you fixed the problem?”

“Yes.” I open my eyes and look at her. “Yours, too.”

She knits her brows together. “What are you talking about?”

“Your problem with the coupling. I fixed it. You and Nick are now re-approved for coupling. And I even assigned you quarters already.”

She draws in a breath and her eyes start to water when she smiles. “Truly? You did that for me?” Then her euphoric expression fades and is replaced by a mask of anger. “You mean you spent time helping me!” she yells, standing and forcing me to do the same. “For Mother’s sake, Evie! What is wrong with you? Gavin is right: You could’ve gotten yourself killed. You were just supposed to go in and fix the computer. Not play matchmaker.”

Gavin runs back in. “What’s going on?” He looks between the two of us.

We ignore him.

“I was right there! What did you expect me to do? Just ignore it and walk away?” I yell back, fuming. Here I’d risked my neck to fix something I’d broken and she was yelling at me?

“Yes. I did. It wasn’t worth the risk.” She places her hands on her hips and pins me with her eyes.

Gavin turns to her. “What wasn’t worth the risk?”

Again we ignore him. “You’re my best friend,” I say. “One of my only friends. I caused that to happen and you’re right. I was selfish. I didn’t think of the risks you were taking. I only thought of Gavin and myself. Getting him out of here so he could leave us far behind. It’s not exactly what best friends do. So I fixed it.”

Gavin’s eyes widen, but he doesn’t say anything.

Macie looks down at her feet. “I was wrong to say that. You weren’t selfish. You were desperate. Besides, that’s what friends are for.”

I shake my head. “I was going to leave you to deal with the consequences. It was selfish and wrong. And I’m sorry.” I smile at her. “And now I’ve fixed it. Congratulations. You and Nick will be very happy, I’m sure. Consider this your coupling present.”

She growls low in her throat. “You’re so damned stubborn!” She spins on her heel and stamps off.

Well, that makes two for two. I’m on a roll.

“I guess you took the time to get her authorization for coupling back?” Gavin asks.

I look at him from the corner of my eye. “Are you going to lecture me, too?”

“She’s right, Evie. What in the hell were you thinking?”

“You’ve asked that already. Are you going to let me answer this time?”

He pulls in a breath through his teeth and makes a hissing sound. “I don’t know. Do you have an answer that doesn’t use the words, ‘I had to. You would have just hindered me’?”

“I could come up with something,” I say, and try a smile.

He bangs a hand on the end table, making the lamp wobble back and forth. “Damn it, Evie. This isn’t funny. You could have died and I would have never known.”

“That’s not true. Mother would have…” I trail off and look to my hands when his eyes flash.

“Oh, yeah. That’s exactly how I want to find out you died. Don’t you care about anyone but yourself?”

His words steal my breath. I feel like I’ve been punched in the stomach and I cross my arms around it. His words are so close to what Macie said.

“I care about you,” I whisper, blinking back tears.

“Do you? Because you haven’t shown it.”

Haven’t shown it? Haven’t shown it? “I’ve risked my life to help you escape, haven’t I? I’m giving up my home to help you. Isn’t that enough?”