Chapter 115
“I…you can…what?” I said, still trying to wrap my mind around what Andrew had told me.
“I can read minds,” Andrew repeated. “That’s how I knew that you were telling the truth when you told me that you took the fall for Bob. I looked deep into your mind and found that you weren’t lying.”
My hands started to shake. Andrew held them more strongly.
“So…you can look into my mind…whenever you want to?” I asked, my voice getting pitchy by the end of the sentence.
“Yes, but I promise, I do not abuse the privilege.”
Andrew gazed into my eyes. I couldn’t get myself to look away.
“I learned from a young age that this ability is a double-edged sword and should not be relied upon, especially when it comes to people that I care about. You are one of those people.”
I shook my head and ripped my hands out of Andrew’s grasp. He did not try to reclaim them. I ran my now-free hands through my hair, unsure of what to say or do.
“You can…read minds,” I said slowly. “You can look into my mind whenever you want to. You could be looking into my mind right now, and I wouldn’t even know it.”
“Yes, technically,” Andrew said, keeping his voice calm, “but I told you, I do not abuse the ability. I especially do not abuse it with it.”
“But how would I know?” I exclaimed. “How would I know if you were doing it or not?”
Andrew cast his eyes downward.
“I suppose you wouldn’t.”
“No, I wouldn’t. Nothing can be sacred anymore—”
“Shh, shh, Crystal, it’s okay.”
I ran my hands down my face. How could I trust Andrew to not invade all my thoughts? How could I trust anybody with that kind of power?
“Crystal, are you okay?”
I looked at Andrew’s face. His expression was completely crestfallen. My heart sank.
“I just…I need time to think this all over,” I said. “Maybe I should go home.”
“All right,” he said, standing up. “Let me escort you to your car, at least.”
“That would be nice. Thank you.”
I stood up, and Andrew took my hand. Our fingers intertwined. Before Andrew opened the door, he leaned down and kissed me on the cheek.
“I care for you deeply, Crystal,” he whispered in my ear. “Never forget that.”
After getting to my apartment, I sat on my couch, my knees pulled up to my chest, and tried to process all of my emotions.
Betrayal. Violation. Loneliness.
I wanted nothing more than to be by Andrew’s side, but knowing that he could drop into my mind at any moment and gather any information that he wanted sent chills down my spine. How could there be any privacy between us?
I couldn’t help but think about all the secrets that I had kept from Andrew since I first met him.
Trying to seduce him to get back at Bob. My suspicions about Lisa and Bob being my stalker. Bob threatening me, assaulting me, and trying to blackmail me.
Did Andrew know about all of this already? Why hadn’t he told me? If he did know, why hadn’t he done anything about it?
I thought about what he said, about not relying on it when it came to people that he cared about. I wondered if he had been telling the truth and if that was why he didn’t know about everything with Bob already. If that were the case, though, then why had he decided to use it to see if I was telling the truth about taking the fall for Bob?
Did he not trust me to tell him the truth?
Tears streamed down my cheeks. I didn’t understand why he couldn’t have told me sooner—or why he had to tell me at all.
“You would have preferred that he had kept it a secret?”Susan asked.
“No, I just…why didn’t he tell me sooner? When we started dating?”
“Maybe he didn’t know how to tell you.”
I uncurled myself and went into the kitchen for a glass of wine. I took a sip and then walked to a nearby window, searching for a familiar outline across the street. Of course, I couldn’t see him now; he was already in position.
Still, I knew that Jeffrey was there. That knowledge brought me a level of security in this time of uncertainty.
I wondered if Jeffrey knew. Would he guard a man who could read his mind if he knew about it?
“Would he guard a woman who could assess numerical levels of people’s affinity for her if he knew?”Susan asked.
I furrowed my brow.
“What are you talking about?”
“You have a power that you have not told anyone about, either, including Andrew.”
I stared down at my red wine as I swirled it around in my glass. Susan had a point. Many people would probably find what I did with Susan as an invasion of privacy, and I seemed to use it more frequently than Andrew implied that he did.
“I suppose…you’re right,”I said. I took another sip of wine.“He might have had his reasons.”
“And his power is no worse than yours, not in Andrew’s hands.”
I smiled slightly.
“No, not in Andrew’s hands.”
I went to the mansion immediately after work the next day. The guard manning the gate seemed surprised to hear from me, but he buzzed me through quickly. Parker met me at the entrance as usual and took me back to Andrew’s home office.
After a brief exchange with the guards, Parker and I were allowed to enter.
“Your Highness, Ms. Crystal Blanchard is here to see you,” Parker announced.
Andrew sat up straighter in his chair and stared at me. Based on the bags under his eyes, Andrew must have slept as well as I had.
“Thank you, Parker. If you could have the guards close the doors behind you, that will be all,” Andrew said.
“Of course. Your Highness, Ms. Blanchard,” Parker said with a bow to both of us.
Parker left the office, and the doors closed behind him.
“You want to take a seat?” Andrew asked, gesturing toward the seat across from him.
He smiled, and I smiled back. I sat down in the chair that he had motioned towards and set my purse on the floor.
“So,” he continued, “to what do I owe this visit?”
I looked down at my lap and picked at the hem of my dress, unsure of how to start.
“I wanted to say…I’m sorry,” I said. “I overreacted yesterday.”
“No, you didn’t. There’s a reason that I don’t tell people about this ability. So many people would misuse it, and I don’t want anyone to think that I’m that kind of person, especially not you.”
“I shouldn’t have freaked out like I did, though. I know the kind of person that you are, and I should have known that someone like you wouldn’t use a power like that willy-nilly.”
“It was self-preservation, that’s all.”
I twisted the fabric of my dress around my index finger until I cut off my circulation.
“It’s more than that, though. I was having trust issues…issues with trusting you, and issues with feeling trusted.”
I raised my hand to silence Andrew before he could speak again. He seemed taken aback, but he let me continue, nonetheless.
“I thought that you didn’t trust me and that that was why you hadn’t told me about your power. The truth is, though, I haven’t trusted you with a similar secret yet.”
I swallowed against the hard knot that had formed in my throat, then lifted my head to meet his eyes.
“I can, through my wolf, Susan, read people’s affinity for me. When I look into their eyes, she gives it a numerical percentage. The higher it is, the more affection they have for me.”
Andrew arched his brow at me.
“What is my affinity for you, then?”
“It’s still 99.999%,”Susan said before I could ask.
“She says it’s 99.999%,” I told Andrew. “According to her, you would do anything for me.”
The corner of Andrew’s lips quirked.
“It must be true, then.”
I blushed. Then I sighed and ran my hand through my hair.
“I’d understand if you were mad at me for hiding this ability from you—”
Andrew stood up, walked around the desk, and gave me a quick kiss on the lips.
“Mad?” he said as he pulled away. “I couldn’t be more relieved. I’ve never met someone with an ability like mine before.”
“Neither have I.”
I put my hand behind his head and dragged him back down to me. I kissed him long and tenderly.
As we parted, I whispered, “I guess we’re just birds of a feather.”
