Page 108 of Interion

I pushed through the double doors and stepped into the hallway, leaving behind the chaos of voices and happy shouts. Breno was already rounding the corner toward the stairs.

“Hey, Breno! Wait up!” I called, hurrying down the hallway after him. He didn’t stop.

“Please! Just listen, I need to tell you something.”

I rounded the corner on the stairwell, taking the last flight two steps at a time. He was already at the building’s exit door. I hurried after him, hearing footsteps behind me, but I didn’t turn to see who it was.

I ran out the door and managed to intercept him halfway between the building and the campus exit. The sun was directly overhead, though it wasn’t too hot. I caught up to Breno and grabbed his elbow, breathless from running. He didn’t pull away, which was already a start.

“Now you have something to say? Just now, Kyller?” he asked irritably. He was wearing jeans and a black t-shirt from the movie War on the Frontiers.

“Yeah, I know I’m a little late and you have every right to be angry, but I...” I didn’t know what to say, and he stared at me accusingly. “I want to apologize. I didn’t tell you because I really didn’t want to talk about the bond. Not with you, not with anyone. Things between me and Zion are complicated...”

He cut me off, pulling his elbow away and turning to face me.

“But you should have told me. You know what made it worse? It wasn’t even that you hid a partnership bond from me—it was the humiliation of finding out from someone else. Actually, the worst part was finding out from Adele. We’re friends, Kyller, and I had to hear it from the person who hates you most here!”

I bit my lower lip and shifted my weight to my left leg.

“It was terrible, I know. But I wasn’t ready to tell anyone, and that has nothing to do with you, Breno,” I pleaded sincerely. “Zion and I are partners, but he rejected me for five years, so I started pretending the partnership didn’t exist.”

Hiro and Aish came through the exit door and walked over to us. From their silence, they must have sensed it was a tense moment.

“You could have told me. I wouldn’t have judged you—I wouldn’t even have brought it up, like I do with most things about your past. But you didn’t tell me. You let me build up expectations about the two of us.”

I frowned at him immediately. Aish and Hiro looked surprised too.

“You led him on?” Hiro asked indignantly.

“I never did that, Breno! I told you I was married! I said a million times that we were just friends.”

“Wait, you’re married?” Aish shouted in surprise.

“And she has a partner,” Breno said.

“A partner?” Aish exclaimed, even more surprised. “And who is he?”

“Zion,” Breno answered.

“By Amarwen’s fertile tits! You were hitting on the general’s woman, Hiro?” she shouted in alarm, then turned to me with wide eyes. “Wait! I kissed the general’s woman!”

“We kissed the general’s woman!” Hiro said, scratching his head.

“You did what?” Breno exploded.

“Does that make him a cuckold?” Hiro asked.

“I didn’t lead anyone on!” I shouted at the three of them, then finally turned to Hiro. “And no! Zion isn’t a cuckold because we’re not together.”

“Then why did you almost give me a chance at the party?” Breno grumbled, looking like a sulking child. Gods, where was Dominic when you needed him to make Breno act like a sensible adult again?

“Because you said what happened there stayed there, and I wanted to try a kiss,” I exclaimed, exasperated, gesturing like a madwoman. “Come on, Breno! You know I’ve never been kissed, and I wanted the experience. But in the end, it wasn’t going to happen—I was about to say that when Adele bumped into us.”

“It’s true, man!” Hiro said, elbowing Breno. “She just wanted a kiss, so Aish and I gave her one.”

My cheeks flushed, and Aish smiled at me before turning to Breno.

“Look, I have to side with her on this. If Kay told you she was married and that nothing would happen between you two, you set yourself up for disappointment.”