Awkward silence reigns in the car, and there's no way I'm breaking it. Andrew's tension is palpable even from here, but you know what? He deserves to feel anxious and off-kilter after having the audacity to question my relationship with Caine.
He's a Rafe loyalist. He's the second to last person on this planet I want poking his nose into my affairs.
Well—third. Ellie exists, after all.
I pull out my phone, needing something to focus on besides my irritation. My thumb hovers over my messages app.
No new texts from Lyre.
I type out a quick message asking if she's okay and to text back when she can.
The message changes to "Delivered", but even five minutes later it still doesn't show "Read."
My skin crawls as I consider the strange sounds in the background. No matter how I try to convince myself I might be mistaken, they sounded distinctly… violent-against-people-y.
But Owen's there. I'm sure he's helping keep her in check.
Maybe.
