Chapter 132

The next day after work, I found myself at the door to Andrew’s study. I needed to find out what was making Andrew act so strangely and what it had to do with me. Jeffrey had only piqued my curiosity with his cryptic answers the night before, and now, I wasn’t going to leave until Andrew told me the truth.

Parker had already announced me and been dismissed, but Andrew had yet to acknowledge me. I supposed that he was waiting for me to speak first, or he was too surprised by my presence so soon after our fight to talk at all. Either way, I knew that I was going to have to make the first move.

I cleared my throat, forcing him to look up from his computer. He arched a brow. Waiting for me to speak, then.

“About last night—”

“I’m sorry, too,” he said before I could finish. “I shouldn’t have spoken so harshly. I didn’t mean to make you feel poorly about your mental health or anything related to it.”

I put my hands on my hips and waited to see if Andrew had anything else to say.

“You can’t control these episodes, and I shouldn’t make you feel bad for them. I know that you’re doing your best and will continue to do your best. I’m only concerned about the psychological effect that the episodes can have on you, but there are better ways for me to show it.”

“I’m glad to hear that. It means a lot to me. However, I didn’t come here to apologize.”

“Then why are you here?”

“Can I come in?”

Andrew hesitated, then nodded.

I walked into the office and closed the door behind me. I anticipated that this conversation was going to get loud, again. No use in making the guards any more uncomfortable than they were going to already be.

“I need to know why you don’t want me to campaign with you anymore. The truth, this time.”

Andrew’s face darkened and his muscles tensed. He did not move, though.

“I already told you, I think that you will be in danger if you come along.”

“Why?”

“I can’t tell you that—”

“Can’t or won’t?”

“Both.” Andrew pinched the bridge of his nose and breathed deeply. “Crystal, I need you to trust me on this.”

I groaned in frustration and ran my hand through my hair, grabbing it at the base and pulling slightly.

“How can I trust you if you won’t be honest with me?”

Andrew slammed his palms on the desk and stood up. His back arched, giving the impression of a predator ready to pounce on his prey. I instinctively backed up a couple steps, but I forced myself to stop.

I would not be afraid of Andrew.

“And have you always been honest with me?” he asked.

I swallowed against the knot in my throat.

I couldn’t answer that truthfully, but I knew that he already knew the answer. He could read my mind, after all; no one could convince me that he hadn’t ever used it to discover a secret that I had tried to keep from him. Still, I didn’t want to reveal just how often I had lied to him since we met.

“Stop avoiding the matter at hand,” I snapped.

Andrew stormed around the desk and right into my face.

“Why do you have to keep hounding me about this?” he asked through gritted teeth.

“Because I care about you, and this sudden anger and overprotectiveness are scaring me.”

“If you really cared about me, you would just listen to me and do what I say.”

My eyes narrowed at him. I crossed my arms over my chest, turned my back on Andrew, and walked to the other side of the office. My breathing grew ragged, and my nails dug into my arms as my anger grew.

“If that’s what you think,” I said, struggling to keep my voice even, “then maybe we shouldn’t be together anymore.”

“Crystal,” Andrew replied, his voice a mixture of frustration and concern, “you know I didn’t mean that how it sounded.”

“Well, it’s certainly how it’s coming across. The fact that you won’t tell me why you want me to stop campaigning with you, only that I should—”

“I told you already, you’d be in danger—”

“Enough of that!” I snapped. “Just, enough. Unless you’re going to tell me what kind of danger you mean, then I don’t want to hear it.”

Andrew didn’t answer me.

“You said that you didn’t hear about any physical threat against us. Are you worried about my mental state? Is that why you keep bringing it up?”

“No, no…I mean, it’s a concern of mine, yes, but that’s not the danger…”

I waited for him to finish his sentence, but he didn’t.

“Then what is it?”

Andrew didn’t respond.

“Dammit, Andrew, if you don’t tell me what’s going on right now, then I’m breaking up with you.”

I turned around to face Andrew. His face was void of all expression. His body was tense, but it did not otherwise give away his emotions.

“You don’t mean that,” he said.

“Yes, I do,” I replied in the firmest voice I could muster.

Andrew opened his mouth to respond, then closed it and clenched his fist. He began pacing the width of the room, parallel to where I was standing. He stopped multiple times, acting as though he were going to say something, but each time, he would stop and resume his pacing.

I tapped my foot, my patience wearing thin. I knew that I had told Jeffrey that I would give Andrew a chance, but I was tired of waiting for the man that I love to tell me why he was trying to restrain me like this. I was only attempting to help him with the campaign that we had created together, the campaign that we had based on our relationship, and he wouldn’t even give me a straight answer as to why he didn’t want me to be a part of it anymore.

Finally, Andrew stopped pacing and approached me. Initially, I took a small step back, unsure of whether his anger was going to spike. Instead, he gently grabbed my hands and brought them to his chest.

“Crystal, what I’m about to tell you is only known by a small number of people,” he said, staring deeply into my eyes. “Even Lisa does not know the truth about this. Can I trust you to keep this secret?”

I nodded my head slowly, unsure of where he was going with this.

“I haven’t given away any of your secrets yet,” I said, alluding to his mind-reading.

Andrew breathed out through his nostrils.

“You know the rumors about how my previous three Lunas died?”

I nodded again.

“They aren’t true,” he said. “In fact, they couldn’t be farther from it.”

“Then…what happened?” I ventured, not expecting him to answer.

Andrew squeezed my hands so tightly that I lost circulation to my fingers.

“I didn’t kill my Lunas. They were killed by human terrorist attacks.”

I felt all the color rush from my face.

“And I’m afraid that the same thing will happen to you.”