“Hopefully only one.”
Her voice turns softer.“How well do you know them?”
“Apparently, not as well as I thought.”My jaw tightens. Another betrayal by yet another friend...
“We’ll figure it out.”And now she’s reassuring me?“Can I get some info on them before tomorrow?”
“I can show you their service files.”
There’s a pause too long.
“Great, just send—”
“I could come over and—”
Our sentences collide. Then stop. I wait for her to continue, but she doesn’t.
“You could come over…”I try again, trying to sound casual, like the idea of her being here with me isn’t already making my darkness stir.“The files are on my tablet.”
Another pause, heavier.
“Email them to me?”
Now I’m cursing myself for suggesting that app. “They’re… highly classified.”
“Don’t trust me, Lord?”
This woman.“I don’t trust electronics. Not you, never you.”
“Nice save.”I hear the smile catching her words.
She’s onto me and my not-at-all subtle tactics. Damn, I’m normally good at this, using words to get my way. But with her, I can’t mask my desperation.
So I might as well push it.
“Come over, I’ll cook. We can keep talking, I’ll show you how to use the apps… and you can keep pretending last night didn’t happen.”
The silence turns tense, but I feel her mind humming with possibilities.
“I’ll look at the files tomorrow morning,”she says. Shit, I pushed too hard—“And as for last night, I think you might be imagining things, my lord.”
I tip my head back with a groan, one I ensure to block.
She’s so good at this. Teasing, dragging me in with those little drops of attention, then vanishing before I can hold on.
“I’ll see you in the morning,”she adds, calm and cordial, a clear ending.But then softer, with a spark of mischief:“Sleep well... Think of me.”
Think of her? My mind is already consumed. By her presence, her laugh, the light she exudes. All I do is think of her.
With that, I feel her pull away. But the wall never returns fully. Her thoughts brush against the edge of mine, neverin words, just touches, taunting, teasing touches. She’s not running, she’s purposefully dancing out of reach.
And when I catch her… I won’t let her go.
***
Immortality frees me from the need to rest, yet I’ve slept more in this apartment, beside Jasmine’s wall, than I have in decades. Most nights I have to fight the pull to join her.
Luckily, when I feel Jasmine fall asleep, my mind is too preoccupied to succumb.
