She bites down over her smile as she lands a finger to my lips. “Should the King use language such as this?” She shakes her head ever so slightly. “I strictly forbidit.”
“If my queen insists.” I crash my mouth over hers as we float higher and higher to the stratosphere and back, bathing in moonlight, bathing in the warmth of ourlove.
Right here in this moment, we seal our loveforever.
Logan
Foreveryoung.
It’s funny, the thoughts that sail through your mind as you drift off to sleep. I never once believed I would die in my prime, close my eyes one last time before I ever hit my second decade of life, but I did. I was just a kid. A stupid one at that. No, it wasn’t my first go-around on this planet, but it was my best. I don’t think too much of the life I lived as a burn victim. If anything, it was a prelude to a dream, my dream life with my dream girl,Skyla.
No, I didn’t think I’d die young. Gage and all of his morbid premonitions always hinted that he would be the one to float off this spinning blue rock before he ever hit thirty. I was the one he predicted would grow to a ripe old age with Skyla. But that was back when thirty was old as dirt anyway. Yes, the second coming of Logan Oliver was a sight to behold. Got my face back. Spent some serious time in the gym building a body. Quarterback of the West Paragon Dawgs. Had all the girls spinning their heads, offering to open their legs. I used to own this island. I was hot shit. One day I held the keys to the kingdom—the next, I was in kingdom come. It was over before it ever really began. Beheaded by a girl I once thought I might gift my heart to. Yes, I’ll be the last to admit that I had the hots for Chloe Bishop. So much so that I mistakenly, for a very brief moment, thought it might be the real thing. Chloe. FuckingChloe. For certain, she qualifies as my brief stint ofinsanity.
I drift off to that strange space between consciousness and sleep—the exact juncture I need to hop off the train and head for someone else’s dreamscape. For the last few weeks, I’ve been visiting Casey in her dreams. Dream visitations is a gift I’ve honed over the years. It doesn’t drain me the next day quite like it used to, but I still feel like a sack of shit that’s been set on fire and stomped on. I don’t mind, though. Casey is sweet. An older version of what I envision Angel growing up to be like. And because I feel so brotherly, so fatherly toward her, it burdens me to know exactly where she is—a glass box, locked up somewhere in the heart of Raven’sEye.
The room forms around me, solid and real, and yet it’s simply Casey’s ability to recreate her world for me while she’s locked in herslumber.
“Finally, slow poke!” She swats me with her pillow. I’ve had Casey memorize her quarters and utilize it as the backdrop to our nighttime tête-à-tête. Mostly because I need to see this place, know the ins and outs of what she’s familiar with, what I’m up against should things go south for anyone involved. Yes, the dead signed up for what amounts to adeathsentence, but after getting to know them, spending time with them while at Gage and Skyla’s place, I don’t have the heart to abandon them. I guess this is my meager form of monitoring the situation. So far, Casey says they’ve done nothing more invasive than have them stare at what amounts to Rorschach blotches. Asked them to perform rudimentary telepathic tasks, checking their strength, their speed, raining down the inquisition as far as who they are—what planet they’refrom.
“I’m late because Angel put up afight.”
Her fresh scrubbed face lights up at the mention of my baby girl. “Skyla let her spend thenight?”
“No, I didn’t ask. I simply put her to bed, but she didn’t want me to leave.” When Skyla and Gage moved back to the Landon house, we agreed Angel should go with them. It’s just at night when we’re separated. You can hardly say that I’ve been living the life of a part-time father ever since. Gage says I’m welcome anytime, and I’ve spent so much time at the Landon house as of late, it’s starting to feel like our high school days. “Skyla is a great mother. I always knew she wouldbe.”
Casey pulls out a deck of cards—Old Maid, her favorite, and begins to shuffle. “You always say such nice things about her. You really like Skyla, don’t you?” Her lips twitch as if she’s been onto me the entiretime.
“What’s not to like? She’s my sister-in-law in a way. She was my wife once. My girlfriend briefly before that. Gage has made a habit of snatching her out of my arms ever since she arrived on the island. It’s a game we like to play. Only now I guess it’s game over for me.” I take up the cards she deals my way. “I’m okay with it, though. Gage and Skyla are pretty greattogether.”
“I’ll agree with that.” Her blonde brows hitch up a notch. Casey is the quintessential little sister next door—all of the innocence and unstoppable youth embodied in a pre-teen. “Gage seems pretty nice. I don’t really know him as well as I know you. Those little boys they have are just a dream. Do you think Gage is a niceguy?”
My stomach clenches, and I’m not sure why. “Yup. He’s the best. He’s got his hands full, though—work, school, family, and he’s pulling it all off with grace and ease. He should be awarded father of theyear.”
“You’re a father now. Don’t you think you deserve that award?” She places down two sets of matching cards and laughs in myface.
“I am a father now. It’s all very new, but I’m in love. I’m so deep in, my bones ache with sweetness when I think about my girl. She really is anangel.”
She lays down another matching set, and I fold. “You must cheat. Nobody wins thatmuch.”
“I never cheat. I just know how to play the game very, very well.” She wrinkles her nose. “Do you think you’ll call her that—Angel, when the timecomes?”
My entire body heats at the thought of procreating with Skyla, our bodies moving in a unified rhythm, her heavy breathing searing over mychest.
I clear my throat. “Skyla and I can’t have children, not now, not ever. I happen to be Team Gage.” I glance up at the proverbial ceiling in the event Candace islistening.
“You will, though.” She reshuffles the deck and hands out the cards. “I mean, Angel is sort of livingproof.”
I stare at her an inordinate amount of time, wagering whether or not to pursue the conversation. It would take a millennium for me to explain to both her and myself why I can’t have a future with Skyla no matter what heartbreaking teasers Candace throws ourway.
“Logan”—she picks through her deck, rearranging her cards one at a time—“tell me about your love for Skyla. I’m sort of a romance junkie. I’ve spent years in paradise listening to true loves’ finest tales. I was sort of cut off before I ever got to experience it myself. Not that I’m lamenting the fact. I died thinking boys were more than icky.” She makes a face like she might vomit. “But the idea has grown on me, and I like the stories. I can listen to them over and over the way others listen tosongs.”
“My love story with Skyla.” I let out a full sigh. “That’s easy. I fell in love the moment I laid eyes on her—so did Gage by the way.” Technically, that’s not true. He fell in love with her in his dreams first. I guess you could say he had the advantage. We dated—Skyla and me.” A tiny laugh bumps through my chest. “I never datedGage.”
“Ha-ha.” She rolls her eyes. “Move italong.”
“That’s it. Skyla had the Counts and the Fems trying to incapacitate her, and I knew they would stop at nothing to make sure we never got together. Our child—she would be—she is, I suppose, as close to pure aspossible.”
“Pure.” She sighs dreamily. “Angel is a lucky little girl. I’m sure the Decision Council has already carefully plotted out the very best destiny forher.”
