Shoving the phone into my back pocket, I pulled the book free and walked to the desk. Just something to keep me out of my thoughts, or keep Thrax from spiralling through twenty-four-seven.
He’d been in the house since yesterday afternoon, after the orgasm he’d given me, dragging me into a climax so devastating I could still feel it echo in my bones. He didn’t leave throughout the day. And yes, I’d slept in his room when darkness fell, then woke upin the middle of the night to find him gone. Because of that, I’d stayed in the living room to wait for him after sending him a ‘where are you’ text that he purposefully ignored. But I’d only lasted two hours before I slept off. Then I woke up on his bed this morning, realising he’d put me there.
I’d rushed downstairs to find him, the question spilling out of me.
“Where did you go?”
“Unfinished business,” he said.
I was starting to despise those words. “You ignored my text. What if I was in danger?”
“I’d know.” His voice had held such conviction it almost sounded like truth. “If you were in danger, sweetheart, I’d feel it. And I didn’t ignore your text. My phone died.”
“And how would you have known?”
His eyes dropped to my chest. “Your fear.”
I blinked, realisation dawning. “Are you saying you can sense people’s emotions? You weren’t kidding that day in the library?”
“I cannot sensepeople’semotions.”
Then he went on denying it no matter how hard I argued and tried to piece things together. Like that day in the rain when he said that hefeltmy heart breaking, the time I was having a panic attack in my room, the time the messenger had attacked me and the countless times he’d found me. It was because he could feel what I was feeling. There was no other way to describe how he magically showed up everytime.
I surfaced from my thoughts as I set the book on Amelia’s desk, only to find she wasn’t alone. A man stood beside her—a male version of her. He looked slightly older, taller, his brown hair falling across his forehead, with a pair of bright brown eyes.
The siblings stopped talking when I showed up, Amelia’s smile lightning up while her brother juststaredat me.
“Hey, Evening. Nice to see you again,” Amelia said, jotting my details in her record book.
“You too.” I mirrored her smile.
She slid the book towards me. “Sorry about the other day. I didn’t realise you had…company.”
I waved her off. “It’s fine.”
“See you again,” she said as I took the book, waving with a small smile.
I stepped back out into the cool of evening, the book tucked to my chest. The sky had deepened into that dusky blue where lamplight began to glow faint against the encroaching dark. When I checked my watch, it was nearly seven. The hours had bled awaytoofast, maybe because I had slept half of them thanks to those night’s creatures I'd fought.
Footsteps fell into place beside mine. I turned to find Amelia’s brother, hood up with his hands tucked into his grey shorts.
His smile was identical to hers. “Good evening,” he greeted.
“Good evening,” I replied, my gaze flicking back ahead.
“You don’t look like you’re from here,” he said. “I’d have noticed you if you were.”
“Yes. Because I’m not.”
“Let me guess. Researcher?”
A faint smile tugged at my lips. “Yes.”
He nodded once, falling into silence for half a minute. “Solo?”
“Yes,” I clipped.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Merton.”
