A shadow.
A monster.
But I know two things.The girls who disappeared didn’t run away.And I won’t be next.Not because I’m safe.But because something far more dangerous than a Demon Leaper has already claimed me.
Royal.
Chapter 23
Royal
The second I step out of Becki’s room, the air changes.
The shift is immediate and physical, like stepping out of heat into cold water.My lungs seize for a second, adjusting.The hall feels wrong.Too still.Too quiet.Like the walls know what almost happened in there and they are holding their breath, waiting for the next explosion.Even the flickering overhead bulb seems dimmer, as if it is afraid to shine too brightly on the shit I would like to do to her.
My body is hollow, buzzing, overstrung as I walk.My hands shake.My pulse hammers.I can still smell her on me.Her hair.Her sweat.Her fear.Her dare.It clings to me like smoke after a house fire, impossible to shake off.Every step feels like a mistake I’m walking deeper into.
You run again, and I will chain you to my bed in the basement.
Christ.
I meant it.
I meant every fucking word.
The truth sits heavy, acidic, burning a path down my throat until I swallow hard.
I make it halfway to the bar before the truth crashes down.
She got out.
She got past me.
She ran straight into the night like she would rather die out there than stay near me.
And I can’t tell which part cuts deeper.
Her running… or her coming back.
I stop in the shadows, pressing my palms to the wall.My breath breaks out sharp.My forehead nearly hits the block wall as I lean into it, trying to get my sanity back, but all I smell is her scent still lingering on my skin.
I shouldn’t have touched her.
I shouldn’t have brushed that curl behind her ear.
I shouldn’t have ever let my mouth get close enough to learn the shape of her breathing.
But she ran.
And she came back.
And I don’t know which part is worse for me.
Both scorch.Both dig under old scars and rip them open like they were never healed to begin with.
I head back.
Not fast.
