Oh, there it was. That switch inside me flipped, and I stalked down an alleyway, pretty sure I was going to completely lose my shit on him and unwilling to do it where anyone could see. After all, there was still a part of me that was pretty sure he was something in my head, and I didn’t want to get dragged off for a mental evaluation on top of the hospital bill I was sure I was going to get later.
As soon as I heard him follow me around the corner, I rounded on him again. The feel of my fingers catching in the black of his sweater so I could shove him back against the brick wall feltgood.
I wanted to hurt him, to take out my frustration, my pain… I wanted…
“You don’t get to talk about Caiden,” I snarled. “You don’t get to think about him. You didn’t know him.” I lifted my fist, and the satisfaction I thought I’d feel when it connected with his jaw was closer to agony. The place where my skin touched his came to life at the connection, sending little tingles of pleasure up my arm that had nothing to do with hurting him and everything to do with the contact.
He didn’t even bleed… he just looked at me with those golden eyes that seemed to hold all the weight of the world, all the patience I’d never had. He stayed still as I hit him again, his hands pressed to the wall, his dark hair falling around his face like a curtain. As I watched, the cut on his lip knit back together—the dark liquid that might have passed for blood drying on his skin.
“I’m—”
“I swear to fuck, if you say you’re sorry again, I’ll…”
What.
Hit him again?
It was like hitting the brick behind him. It didn’t do anything.
I didn’tfeelanything.
I was just angry. And broken. And drawn in on the sensation of his cool skin against my knuckles, reaching deeper into my chest than anything had since the day Caiden died. I’d felt it then too, when I’d shoved him… and I was only realizing now I’d beenmissingit ever since.
Fuckhim.
“I’m here for whatever you need.” It was almostmoreinfuriating that he didn’t care… that he was standing there like a statue and justtakingit when I hit him.
“I don’t even know yourname.”
“Sephtis.” That came to him easily enough, and he seemed almost relieved that he could finally give me an answer. I hatedthe way my body responded to the name, something soft tingling in my chest like they were syllables I’d heard before.
Like it was written somewhere just beneath my skin.
“Sephtis,” I repeated, and fuck if it didn’t feel familiar on my tongue. “Listen. I don’t know what you want. I’m still not convinced you’re real. I just know you need to leave mealone.”
His expression shifted almost painfully.
“I can’t.”
As though to prove his point, when I jerked away from him and started down the alleyway, he followed like he was pulled on strings.
“I don’t want you near me,” I hissed out, forcing myself to keep my eyes forward. “I don’t want you to save me. I just want…” I trailed off.
Did I want to die?
I didn’t know… but I knew it was so fucking painful tolive.
“Cole…” The way he said my name felt like a litany, a whispered secret sent straight to the dark sky above us. He said it as though it was the sweetest thing he’d tasted, like it was worship. Sephtis said my name like it was the only thing he needed on his tongue to give him life.
“Don’t say it like that.” I whirled around, the anger in my chest coming to a point that was nearly choking me now. It was eating away at the edge of my vision, making something inside me break open. “Don’t say my name like youknowit. I don’t know you. I don’twantto know you. I just want…”
My words trailed off as something spilled around the corner behind Sephtis. I thought it was a person at first, but there was something off about it.
Its eyes were solid red, and its fingers were tipped in black… and it was staring at me with so muchfuryin its gaze that I felt like it was splitting me open.
“Cole—”
“Septhis, shit… shit,move.” I wasn’t sure where the words came from, or why I stepped forward and grabbed his arm, yanking him to stand behind me. Maybe I hated him… maybe he wasn’t real… but apparently instinct still demanded that I do whatever I could to stop the thing behind him from pouncing.
