“She’s so perfect, it’s sickening,” Monday whispered as Jonah and Carrie walked away from the booth, side by side in light-hearted banter. “It’s not fair. Why does the universe waste good looks on assholes and bitches?”
I laughed. “I don’t know,” I shrugged, “Balance?”
“If she takes my spot in this October’s initiation into Sacred Sea, I’ll be pissed,” Monday went on. “They don’t just let anyone in, and I’ve been workin’ on it for three years now.”
“Why do you want to be in their coven so bad?” I asked, turning my attention to unloading the box filled with pens, clipboards, and sign up forms Jonah had dropped off.
It was hard to keep my distance from her when forced to work with her. It was hard to keep any of those from Sacred Sea at arm’s length when this town was impossibly small.
At the corner of my eye, Monday turned and leaned into the table, her bright red hair falling down her back. “You don’t get it. It’s like being a part of a family. Somewhere to belong and people to fight for you.”
“What about your parents?” I asked, my eyes drifting from her to the cup I was filling with blue pens.
“They never gave a shit about me.” Monday turned, eyes narrowing across the square. I turned too, following her gaze. On the other side of the gazebo, three bodies stood under a tent.Wicked Soul Cakeswas printed on the banner running across the top. “I was always the different one,” she whispered. “The milkman’s baby.”
The edge to her voice, the hurt in her eyes, the longing in her expression, it was all too familiar. She had a family, a home inside this town, and she still felt rejected by them. For a brief moment, I felt for her. I could relate to her.
“Is that your brother?” I asked, and threw my hand over my eyes to see better. Under the tent, a blond-haired boy stood with the blonde-haired parents. My eyes flicked back to Monday’s expression.
“Yup, the one who can do no wrong.”
“Their loss,” I said, an attempt to put her at ease. Although, I knew there was nothing I could say to help.
She smiled, but it was empty. “Definitely.”
As the day went on, I talked the legendary Jasper Abbott, the town’s blabbering crazy man, into securing two graves. One for him, one for his dog, Cujo. Jonah hadn’t mentioned it had to be for a human. I only needed one more when Monday and I finished our coffee.
“I’ll head over to The Bean, get us two more. Watch the booth,” I told her.
Monday nodded when Kane and Maverick approached our table just as I was leaving. “I see how it is,” Kane called out, and I turned and held up my palms at my sides with a shrug, the timing perfect.
Jolie waved at me from under her mom’s booth outside of the apothecary store as I passed, hay bales decorating both sides. My gaze roamed their booth and inside the store, hoping to get a glimpse of Julian, but knowing it was a lost cause.
My fingers touched the cold metal of the knob when “Fallon” carried on the wind. At first, I thought it was all in my head. Until I heard it again.
I whipped my head to the side and squinted, seeing him standing there, leaning against the corner of The Bean, his passionate eyes touching me in a way that was a fluent language only we spoke. The sun hung directly behind him, drawing his outline in silver. He looked haloed in the light as he moved closer. I raised my hand to my forehead to shield my eyes as he peered down at me.
“Come with me,” Julian whispered, then tilted his head and looked off to the side.
I couldn’t believe he was out here so exposed at this hour, in Town Square. The wildness in his eyes was a telling of a secret and pulled my smile into shape. “I can’t, I have one more grave to fill,” I explained, trying to play off the effect his presence had on me. “You interested?”
“Fallon Grimaldi,” Julian clicked his tongue, “I knew you only wanted me for my body.”
A laugh left me, and I scanned the square to see if anyone was watching us, and there wasn’t. No one was watching the freak. No one cared about me or what I did. We stared at each other in an odd way, as if it were a silent argument. Our gaze battled each other until my voice arose. “Julian …”
“Fallon,” he insisted, a nudge of his head. “Come with me. I only need a moment of your time.”
I glanced around once more before sliding around the corner of The Bean after him.
I followed Julian down Seaside Street and into an alley, and my chest fluttered like there was a heart racing inside my heart. Once shadows swallowed us, Julian turned and caught my hips. My breath suspended for the briefest moment, anticipating him.
His fingers locked onto my sides, walking me backward. A spiral of heat climbed inside me, poured into my blood. And his scream-filled eyes latched to mine when my back hit the brick wall.
“Once upon a time,” he said in a rush, leaning into me. “There was this Heathen so lost, he screamed so loud …” he lifted my hands high on the wall and laced his fingers with mine, “He followed the rules, followed the code, but never followed the useless thing inside his chest.” His hands traced along my outstretched arms, his palms smoothing over me, like cold lotion against my skin.
My body sank against the wall, and I cleared my dry throat, keeping my eyes on him. “Until now. You’re supposed to say … until now.”
Julian pressed his hips into mine and dipped his mouth to my ear. “Until now.”
