I held the letter out of his grasp when he tried to reach for it again. “Where. Did. You. Get. This? Did you steal it? Is this some sort of sick joke?”
“No, I got it... I got it from the mailbox… Wait…” I could see the moment it clicked in his head, because his jaw dropped and all of the blood drained from his face, his skin turning a sickly pale color. “No fucking way.”
“Where, Redd?” I asked, buzzing with a mix of emotions I couldn’t decipher. Anger, betrayal, confusion, hope, something else that burned like acid.
He looked at me like I was a ghost.
“It’s not possible.”
“You’re telling me!”
He stepped back from me like I had burned him. The space between us became a chasm, vast and uncrossable. I hastily hopped from the counter, straightening out my clothes and smoothing down my hair.
He began to pace back and forth, mumbling under his breath.
“It’syou. It’s been you. This whole gods damned time. Why didn’t you say anything? What the fuck, Fiella!”
“Me?! What do you mean, me?! Why didn’tyousay anything?”
I didn’t understand whyheseemed shocked whenhewas the one who had been keeping this secret for weeks now! There was no way he didn’t know. It was impossible.
He couldn’t even seem to look me in the eye. I was sure the guilt had to be eating him alive. To keep a secret so deep? So important? So all-encompassing? So life-changing? Diabolical.
On the other hand…. I hadn’t managed to figure it out. The signs were all there, waiting to be recognized, but I had looked right past them. Maybe he had done the same.
I felt exposed. Vulnerable.
My thoughts were churning like the tides.
No wonder I found myself being pulled in two directions–the same enigmatic, alluring man was on both ends.
“Well, I don’t know what in Hell's Realm we’re supposed to do about this,” I muttered awkwardly, hastily composing myself and pulling my cloak on. I ran my hands over my hair, tryingto tuck the mussed strands back in place. I gave up after a few seconds and opted to pull my hood over my head instead.
There was nothing I could do to disguise the flush I was sure was staining my cheeks and the blood that I could feel pumping in my swollen lips. My body still thrummed with electricity, my skin begging to be touched. I pressed a hand over my mouth, and his eyes followed the motion.
He stood there frozen; a man wrecked.
What the fuck.
“Fiella, wait, let’s just talk about this–”
I couldn’t deal with this right now. I couldn’t reconcile the idea of the penpal I had in my mind with the vampire standing in front of me.
I averted my gaze and slipped out of the door before Redd could say anything else, slamming it shut behind me and hauling ass away from the cottage.
The urge to flee was so strong I even forced myself torun. Something close to panic was grabbing onto my chest. It wasn’t a panic rooted in despair, more one grown from fear. From the unknown. From the potential for world-ending hurt this could cause me.
Kizzi’s jaw was going to drop through the floor when I told her aboutthiscauldron fire I’d gotten myself into.
CHAPTER 42
Redd
Istood in my kitchen, more confused than I had ever been in my life. Shock was making my brain slow, my thoughts sluggishly clicking into place.
I tried to calm my body’s reaction, though blood still thundered in my veins and arousal still heated me. I took deep breaths, my teeth gritted.
Fiella. My penpal. Fiellawasmy penpal.
