“Aurora…” he starts.
“I think you should leave,” I cut him off, still not able to turn around.
“Aurora.”
“Please.” My voice breaks, interrupting once more. “Please, you scare me. Everything about us, scares me…please, just…go.” I draw my arms around me, holding what’s left of my soul.
I can feel the crack of his jaws. The tightening of his fists. The wild beat of his heart. And then it’s all gone, leaving me alone with the sound of the raging storm outside, watching over me like my most trusted shadow.
SEVERIN
An idiot…a fucking dumbass. That’s what I am.
I slam my hand against the steering wheel. I knew I should’ve stayed away when I still had the chance, when I didn’t feel the warmth of her skin and the taste of her lips.
I fucking knew it.
Now?
Now, I don’t have a single clue as to what to do next because my whole body and mind was thrusted into a storm of emotions with her wrapped in each one. Every bone and vessel now belongs to her.
That one kiss. One moment of weakness, of letting go of the past, and I’m done for.
Fear. Dark, crippling fear shot up through every inch of my body as soon as my lips touched hers.
Fear that it’s a mistake. Fear that I shouldn’t be here. Fear that no one else has ever felt this right.
Fear that I might lose it. Fear that the light in her will be poisoned.
But most of all, fear that I won’t survive without her light.
And she doesn’t want to see me ever again…
I thought I learned my lesson. Yet here I am.
I sigh, leaning against the seat and swiping the last remnants of her taste from my lips before sucking them off my thumb.
“Sorry to break it to you, Aurora Johnson, but your request has been denied.”
14
I’m losing it
Aurora
Howcanyoufeelsomeone next to you when they’re not?I close my eyes, balling my fists to stop the slight tremor running through me.
I think I’m losing it.
First, I couldn’t remember when I filled my car to a full tank, then I swear the dishwasher broke last week, but when I came home the other day, I saw Betsy using it just fine. And I explicitly remember saying no to an ice cream Emett wanted at the store because we already have some at home…
Well, the next morning when I opened the freezer it was there, right smack in the middle.
And the most troubling one is that I feel him. I physically feel his presence almost every day. It’s fleeting. It doesn’t last longer than a few seconds, but I feel a rush of wind as it runs down my spine and my heart flutters nervously.
Can a person steal your sanity with just one kiss? Because that’s how it feels. It feels like I’ve lost all semblance of normal and control ever since Severin walked out the door.
A week, then two passed. One day flowing into another in a pattern of gray clouds and murky skies yet the touch of his lips wouldn’t vanish from mine no matter how hard I tried to forget that night.
