“Where is the fucking triplex?” I hiss, and Henry turns and speeds out of the building, I run after him, but when we get to the triplex, Franklin isn’t there. Nobody is there, but there’s a pool of blood in front of one of the doors and I know it’s Liz’s.
I don’t want to look inside because I’m scared I’ll find her body and then I’ll have to go home and tell Jedidiah what happened. I don’t think I can bear to see the look on his face when I do.
Henry steps around me and pushes the door open, and the overwhelming metallic odor of blood crashes into us like a wave.
“Is she there?” I ask, the question catching in my throat.
“No.”
“Do you think they killed her?”
“I don’t know why they would.” He closes the door and steps over the blood puddle. “Is Declan alive?”
Ezra.
Ezra.
Ezra.
“Yes,” I croak.
Where are you?I plead with him.Tell me where you are so I can come find you.
His quiet whispers turn into a scream and then he’s gone again, like he’s been sucked out of me and into a void that I can’t reach into.
“Henry.” I swipe at my eyes and look up at my brother whose face is painted with red hot rage.
“We’ll get him back,” he promises me.
“I don’t know where he is. I can’t…I can’t hear him, and I don’t even smell him here.”
All I can smell is Liz’s blood and the putrid rank of Franklin and his stupid asshole family. I hope they had a good run, because when I get my hands on them, I’m going to tear them all limb from limb and light them on fire myself. The inquisition won’t have shit on the hell I’ll rain down on Franklin fucking Smith.
“We need to get home.” Henry leads me away from the triplex and back toward the street. “We’ll need to speak with mother and father. We need to have that meeting after all and find out who can come into town and help us.”
“I’m going to kill him.” I grab Henry by the arms and shake him until I’m sure he’s listening to me. “I’m gonna fucking kill him myself.”
Declan
Liz and I park in front of my apartment. I’m overwhelmed again by how much I can smell everything. The moisture in the air, the jasmine that wrap near my parking spot, even the spicy perfume Liz wears. She’s been telling me a story about Elijah and Jedidiah and how they’re terribly in love with each other, even more than they’re in love with her. She thinks it’s funny, but not in a malicious way.
I haven’t known Liz long, but she’s just a nice person. She’s easy to talk to, easy to be around, and I can see why both men are head over heels for her. I’ve never had two people be into me the way they’re into her, and I used to daydream about what it would be like to be as desired as she is, but I never imagined it would come true.
Things are different now than I ever imagined they would be, and I don’t need two people to be in love with me, because Ezra is enough for eternity. I know Birdie said sometimes the bond can act up in interesting ways, and I don’t know if that’s what’s happening between him and me, but it feels like I’ve loved him longer than I’ve even been aware of my own existence.
“I need to tell my landlord I’m moving,” I say to Liz when we get to the front door of my apartment.
She looks around the hallway and scrunches her nose at me. “Do you think he’ll even notice you’re gone if you don’t?”
“That’s fair. I’m sure if I just stop paying rent, they’ll get the idea.”
“Quit your job too, then?”
“I’ve always wanted to quit by not showing up. You know? Like a big fuck you to the man,” I laugh and unlock the front door. It’s still weird being here. It was last time, too. I grab some important stuff, and I want to leave a lot of things here.
“You’re such a rebel, De…”
Liz’s retort is cut short by the deafening sound of her scream and my front door splintering into pieces in her hand.
