Chapter 18 18.Argument
Tabitha’s POV
It’s late afternoon when I leave my room. I’ve been pacing for over an hour, still rattled from what happened with Reed in the library. I feel suffocated in my room and my mind is screaming to seek some fresh air. I really don’t have a destination in mind. I just need to move.
My feet carry me down the east wing. I pass two doors before I hear voices coming from one that’s slightly open. I slow down when I catch the faint sound of voices behind the half-open door. I pause. I don’t mean to stop, but something in the tone draws me closer. I press myself to the wall and lean in.
“She’s digging again,” I recognize Reed’s agitated voice. “We need to stop her before she finds anything else.”
I go still. It doesn’t take a genius to know that they are talking about me. Is this about my encounter with it in the library earlier? It hasn’t even been a day and he is already tattling me to his brothers?
“We warned her already. Maybe we weren’t clear enough.” Jace's tone sounds ominous.
“She’s desperate to break the bond. And it’s gonna be more complicated once she learns more than she should,” Luca notes.
“She’s not just going to back off because we hide a few pages. She’s too stubborn for her own good,” Reed grits out.
“Get rid of all the risky materials in the restricted section. If she wants to keep coming back there, let her. But we’ll make sure she won’t find anything of value,” Evren’s cold voice makes me shudder.
I don’t hear the rest. I don’t want to. I push off the wall and slip away, heart pounding. My hands clench as I make my way through the side corridor and out the back door.
My head is pounding with so many thoughts and I’m not sure what to entertain first. My asshole stepbrothers are shamelessly jeopardizing my chances of breaking the mate bond. I know they already warned me that I cannot escape them. But they can’t possibly expect me to just accept that, right?
I spent most of my life hating them, cursing at them… and I may have been confused by my own thoughts and unexplainable physical reaction to them these past few days but I know that I am still the same girl they used to bully. The same girl they cannot stand!
Even now, they find new ways to make my life miserable. One moment, they act like they couldn’t care less if I vanished. The next, they’re warning everyone to stay away from me, like I belong to them. They can’t stand the idea of someone else’s scent on me. They hate me in their house and at the same time, they don’t want to let me go. What the hell do they want?
I step into the garden path. The gravel crunches under my shoes as I walk blindly forward. My eyes sting. I want to scream. I want to tear something apart. I want to go back into that room and make them say it to my face.
Instead, I keep walking and walking, until the hedge parts and the tall glass structure comes into view. The greenhouse stands quiet in the corner of the garden swallowed by ivy. I stare at it for a moment. I don’t know why I come here. I just do.
Screw it, I step inside without a thought in mind. The air is warmer here. It’s damp and earthy. The scent of mint and rosemary fills my lungs. I move down the aisle of plants and grab a small pair of shears from the tool tray. I bend over the lavender bush and begin to trim.
When in doubt, find something else to do.
I work in silence, lost in the soft snips and rustle of leaves. I pull weeds. I fix the collapsed vines on the tomato trellis. I wipe sweat from my brow and keep going. Doing something eases me out of the intense waves of thoughts inside my head. It provides a temporary escape from thinking about anything.
I toss a handful of weeds into the bin and reach for another set of shears. My hands are dirty, my sleeves damp, and I’m starting to sweat. I just want to get through the rest of the planters and clear my head before dinner.
Just before I can pick another plot to weed, the door of the greenhouse suddenly creaks open behind me. I freeze.
"You were in the restricted section again," Jace says as he steps inside, arms folded across his chest.
"So what if I was," I say flatly.
"You were warned. You’re not supposed to be down there," he says without flinching.
"Then maybe your brother should’ve locked the damn place better," I mutter as I brush dirt off my pants.
"You keep pushing limits you don’t understand," he says with a sharp edge in his voice.
"Because you keep hiding answers I deserve to know," I fire back.
"We’re trying to protect you from things you don’t need to see," he says as his eyes narrow.
"You’re trying to trap me. You think I don’t see that?" I say as I move past him.
"You don’t get to put the whole house at risk just because you’re angry," he says, stepping into my path.
"Then stay out of my way," I say without looking at him.
"Not until you listen," he says as his jaw tightens.
"Move!" I demand but he intentionally blocks my way.
I slam the shears onto the tray beside me. "I said let me through, Jace!”
"No. We’re not done talking."
"We are. Now get out of my way!" I shout as I shove him.
He stumbles back, startled. I take off down the narrow aisle.
"Tabitha!" he calls after me.
I ignore him. My feet pound against the floor as I dodge the rows of herbs and overgrown vines. His footsteps are close behind me. I can hear him cursing as he tries to keep up.
"Stop running inside the greenhouse!"
I refuse to stop. I just want to get away from him. Being around any of them clouds my brain and I can’t have that. I can’t let them convince me to second guess my conviction to break the bond. I need to get out of here.
I round the corner too fast and my foot catches on a broken pot. I yelp as I crash into a glass panel.
“Ughhh!” Pain explodes across my shoulder as glass shatters around me. I hit the floor hard, breath knocked out of my lungs. My fingers shake as I press them to my arm.
I’m bleeding.
"Tabitha!"