Hidden Enemies | The Prime Archives #2 ✓

twenty-eight

It had been a few days since Chase last spoke to Stella. After their argument in Director Shaw's office, she went straight to his room and took out all her stuff. When he returned, he almost thought they had been robbed.

She had even cleaned the place up a bit.

Whenever he went to sleep, he no longer heard her tiny snores or felt her warm body against his. He could feel her cold absence against his skin. Sometimes, he would wake up in the middle of the night and just stare at where she would have been sleeping.

The mere sight of her side of the bed chiseled pieces of his heart away.

He wasn't quite sure where they stood at the moment. She refused to talk to him. During their training sessions, she went out of her way to purposefully avoid him—often standing on the other side of the Gym or opting to spar with someone other than him. Even when they all were eating lunch in the dining hall, she made sure to sit at another table.

It was like he was a plague she was trying to avoid.

Was he a plague? Was she right about the PRA? Did they really need it?

He asked himself those questions every day. The answer seemed to be moving farther and farther away each time he asked.

"Dude, slow down," Theo warned from above him. "You're going to fast. I can't keep up."

Chase grunted and racked the weights he had been repping. After sitting up on the sweat-covered bench, he grabbed a face towel and wiped his forehead.

To cope with Stella avoiding him, he filled his time with extra workout sessions in the weight room. He often dragged Theo along with him for the sake of having some company. He knew the boy sucked at weightlifting, he was more of a treadmill kind of guy, but he didn't want to be alone.

"My bad," Chase mumbled. He rubbed the back of his neck and exhaled, releasing the tension in his aching muscles.

"I don't even know why I come with you here," Theo said while looking around the place. A few other agents were weight training as well, their strained grunts and aggressive words of encouragement filling the room. "I can't even keep up with you." He gestured at the bar in front of him. "I mean, this is easily five hundred pounds. You're lifting it up like it's a newborn baby."

"It's actually a little too light. I need to add more weight."

"More weight?!" Theo brushed his brown curls out his face before pulling his inhaler out. He took a few puffs before putting it back in his pocket. "You know, you've been coming in here a lot. Like, more than usual. You alright, dude?"

His smile faltered. He grabbed his water bottle from the ground and pretended to take a sip.

While he had been spending a lot of time with Theo, he hadn't exactly told him why. It wasn't like he needed to, though. They were friends. They had been for two years. He didn't need an excuse to hang out with his buddy.

"Let me guess." Theo placed a finger to his chin while looking at the ceiling. "It's about Stella, right?"

Chase stayed tight-lipped.

"You know, I'm not a complete idiot," Theo pointed out. He sat down on the other end of the bench. "I can pay attention to things...sometimes." He glanced at the blond. "So, what's the deal? What's going on between you two?"

"It's nothing," he replied dismissively. "We're just going through a rough patch."

"Ah, the old lover's quarrel," Theo joked. "I'd say I can relate, but I can't. I don't have a girlfriend. Come to think of it, I've never had a girlfriend." His face fell. "Jeez, I need to get a life."