I was angry, hurt, and tortured, left to fall to pieces, but I hadn't really allowed myself to do such a thing. It was trying to catch up with me, but not here. Not now. I couldn't let it.
He backed away slowly with a look that let me know I had just ripped his heart out. It seemed like all I had done lately was hurt people. I had hurt McKee, confused Tallis, and now I was hurting Jared. I was such a mess, and I was dragging everyone down with me. Toxic. That's what I was.
I could hear the pain from my abrupt rejection in his voice when he quietly said, "I'll call Everett and tell him we're about to leave. Then I'll take you home."
He walked away from me quickly and pulled his phone out of his pocket.
"Jared, I am sorry. I didn't mean to… Please forgive me."
He ignored me, continued on as if I hadn't said anything at all. A lone tear trickled down my cheek, and I wiped it away. I barely knew Jared, but he was acting as though I had just destroyed him. Had he linked to me, too? I hated
this new life and all of its screwed up rules and consequences.
Everett was there within minutes. He walked up to where I was sitting, though I barely acknowledged his approach. The tears had finally started falling in a pattern. Hot and heavy drops flowed down my cheeks with no regard for my dignity.
"I just spoke to Jared, and he asked me to take you home. He said he had to go meet up with some of the militia," Everett said, sounding as gruff as usual.
I fought back the urge to roll my eyes as I wiped away my tears. "Of course he did."
I stood up in an aggravated manner and watched as Jared squealed out of the drive. I was so sick of all the drama.
We rode in silence for a while, an awkward, uncomfortable silence. Everett was the one to finally slice through the barrier of quiet.
"Are you okay? Jared didn't go into too much detail."
I huffed slightly. The last thing I felt like doing was confiding in Everett of all people.
"I created more drama, yet again. Shocking, I know. I think I'm broken or something. I don't know how this keeps happening."
So much for not confiding in him.
Even in the dark car, I could see the confusion that riddled his face. "What keeps happening?"
I destroy everything I touch.
"Somehow I led him on, and I shouldn't have. I think I hurt him worse than I did McKee." He slightly nodded, seeming indifferent to my screwed up confession. Then I rolled my eyes again. "You must think I'm terrible."
He shook his head, stoic in expression. "Not at all. You're just human... for now. It's much, much too easy to link to you. Things get messy when you're still mortal and aware of the immortal world. Especially with you."
My neck tried to snap when I whipped around to face him, suspicion oozing from my eyes. "Why do you say it like that? Especially with me?"
He shrugged, still seeming as expressionless. "Your essence is too strong. It's much stronger than it should be, and much stronger than what most of us are accustomed to dealing with. It draws them in like bears to honey. That's one of the reasons I've made a very strong attempt to distance myself. You'll get the hang of things. I promise."
"Do you think Jared linked to me?" I ask, my voice meek.
He lets out a scattered, hesitant breath, refusing to even glance my way. He already confirmed my fear just with the amount of time it took him to gather an answer, trying his best to cushion the burden.
"I know he did," he said at last, not bothering to dress it up the way I thought he would, leaving it as raw and terrible as I knew it was. "He linked faster than usual, meaning you're stronger than I thought."
"I still don't understand links," I grumbled, gripping my head.
"They're complicated. Links start when you're mortal, but the end varies. Sometimes the links are severed when you turn immortal, sometimes a great deal of time and distance can break a link, and sometimes it's not broken until one of you find your soul mate. It depends on the individual and the power they come from."
My hair tangled in my hands as I gripped it. Considering where I came from, that meant McKee and Jared would both be stuck on me until I turned immortal and proved to the whole freaking world Tallis was my soul mate. My siblings were all in their twenties when they turned. I was sure I would be, too. That was a long time to wait.
"Aria, you can't dwell on it. We all know how easy it is to fall into. If it happens, we deal with it. It's not like it's you're the first one to go through this. Jared's a big boy. He left because he knew he needed to distance himself before he got... crazier."
I almost laughed, but it was one of pure exhaustion and misery. He smiled, offering me silent encouragement with his softer than usual eyes. It was the first time he had ever been nice to me. Though it was a strained attempt, I smiled at him as we pulled down the drive to Iris's house.