Her memories, the fire, the betrayal of Annie—the betrayal of my mother. Despite the fact that I held on strong, I had to fight every cell inside of me to not run after her. Emotions well up in my throat, the images of her being held back by two guards flashing in front of my eyes. Screaming my name. Crying my nickname.
The nickname I haven’t heard since I was a little kid.
Axe.
The door of the room where we are eating opens again and Zephron steps through it, rubbing his chin. No words leave his mouth, but by the look of his eyes I can see that the votes have been counted. I shove my chair back and the rest follows. We walk after him in silence, waiting for the outcome.
Neither Eliane nor I won.
As expected, we did not end last, but also not on top. Both our thefts took out differently than we intended. The person who did win was someone to not be surprised about either.
Delilah.
The betrayal, the memories, she took everything and everyone Eliane valued and performed an excellent act. If she would have done it to anyone else than my duo, I would have maybe even clapped. It is pretty impressive. Kailey, Ethan, and Aiden did also do well according to the leaders and voters. The remaining votes were pretty similar. Only Delilah stood head and shoulders above us all.
Eliane lies stretched out in bed when I open the door of our bedroom. She is not wrong, she is probably tired as fuck. The lights are out, and the curtains are closed. I sit on my side off the bed and lift my shirt over my shoulders. A ball of light appears in front of me, informing me that she is awake, and I relax my shoulders now not only the darkness embraces me. But the darkness never felt as scary with her in the back of my mind. Her power seems to be coming back. I don’t turn around but look to the ground. The bed moves and I hear the blanket getting throwed open. A shiver rolls over me as a finger touches my bare skin, tracing a scar on my arm. Her warmth is feelable and brushes me without her body touching mine. My heart feels like it is going to explode, thundering through my veins. A sleepy voice whispers.
“Did I ask you about what your tattoos mean yet? And what about your scars? Did you tell me before? I don’t remember anymore.” The mattress moves as she sits down next to me, her fingers moving from my scars towards my tattoos. “Did anything happen between us?” she whimpers, her voice filled with desire, but also with grieve.
Oh.
She doesn’t remember anything.
Of course she doesn’t.
Because that bitch took all her good memories.
That explains her strange acting and the distance.
I am going to kill Annie.
“No and no, no kissing happened.” I press the words out of my mouth in a cough, but they sound raspy, almost like a moan. Her fingers move from my arm towards my chest and every hair on my body is standing straight. She touches the tattoos on my chest, just above my heart. She smiles.
“Okay, I wasn’t specifically asking about kissing, but something happened between us?”
I stay quiet, my mouth glued together. Her fingers stop touching me. But I lean more towards her, desperate for her touch. She flops up and down next to me. My gaze meets hers and my eyes darken as I watch the seducing glare in her eyes. I point to my shoulders and her eyes track my hand. I wish this moment could last forever. I want her to be able to look at me as long as she wants.
“This one is for my mom, the stars and galaxy represent her signet and that she always told me something when I was younger. ‘If you are lost, look at the stars,’” I quote her. I have found my star already. The sun is a medium sized star in the outer arm of the Milky Way galaxy, and the sun herself is sitting next to me. But I keep that small detail to myself. Her fingers touch me again and leave a burning mark on my skin.
“And this one?” She points at the birds and mountains on my sleeve.
“Freedom,” I answer. She nods in something that looks like understanding. She steps out of the mattress, revealing her long legs coming out under her oversized shirt.
One of my shirts.
“Are you wearing one of my shirts?” I purr out. She looks at me teasingly as she kneels in front of me. Her doe eyes, looking at me widely. A sight I will not forget soon I think. Her fingers trace all the tattoos from my stomach towards my chest, leaving a trail of goosebumps on my skin. Like she marked me.
“And this one?” She points at the sun I put there not long.
“You know why I put that here. You’re my bond for life. You have the same sort of one, remember?” I huff out. She looks up at me with doe eyes and her long golden hair falls over her shoulders and breast.
“Yes, I saw it, but don’t remember putting it there. I assume you did that? And oh, no, not for life,” she teases. Well, that is not true, I already said too much. “Right?” she asks. All I do is smile at her and that is enough for her to know. I have to fight the urge to grab her hips and drag her to me when she acts like this. She has never acted this seducingly. We had our moments, but if I understand correctly, she does not remember. Her fingers trace another bunch of tattoos and her eyes follow her hand. She stops at the top of my waist band that pops up just a bit above my pants.
“Make me forget please,” she purrs, begging me.
I freeze. Is that only why she wants to do this? She notices me freezing and her touching stops. “You don’t see me that way, sorry,” she hurries.
I do see her that way, damn it.
