No One Left Behind, Except for Me novel · Chapter 16 of 24

Chapter 16: The Citation

Mikkel's POV

Doc had texted me at 9:40 that Natalie had walked out of the ballroom alone and that Tate had followed.

I drove the three blocks to the garage faster than a rented car should go.

Now Tate was gone between the parked cars, and Natalie stood against the pillar with her splinted hands pressed to her ribs.

I did not go to her.

I had promised her I would stand where she said.

"You can come closer," she said.

I stepped closer and stopped an arm's length away.

"He is going to write to the Institute tonight," I said. "I heard him."

"I know."

"I will tell the chair myself before his letter lands. I should have told her already."

"Mikkel." She looked at me for a long time. "Did you hear what I said on the steps? About the rule?"

"Yes."

"Say it back to me."

"Tell me what it costs, and I decide."

"Now tell me what it costs to stay near you tonight."

I had not expected the question, and I answered it the way I should have answered everything.

"It costs you the quiet," I said. "There will be gossip, and a complaint, and a conduct office. I may lose my place at the Institute, and you may be asked whether I was your teacher. I was not. But they will ask."

"And what does it cost you?"

"The same, and more. I read your file for eight days without telling you. I do not think I have earned this, and I want it very much."

"That's the truth?"

"That is all of it. You decide."

She nodded slowly.

She stepped forward and fitted her forehead against my collarbone.

"Take me somewhere with a door," she said.

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