Viciously Yours,
Nick
P.S. I wish I knew your favorite color. Mine is red, like blood.
Amelia stared at the white mold of Nick’s hand, unable to think of anything other than how large it was. Her fingers traced over his, memorizing the shape of his nails and the grooves of his knuckles. The few times she’d seen Nick fade in and out of sight, he didn’t look big enough to have a hand this size, but it’d been a long time since she’d seen him.
“Seeing your perfect hand in his unworthy one made me murderous, little mate.”
Amelia blew out a breath. Jacob had asked to walk her home a few times, and once, she’d allowed him to take her hand, but itfelt wrong. She wanted a boyfriend like the other girls, but none of the boys gave her butterflies.
As much as she looked forward to Nick’s letters, putting her life on hold for him was ludicrous. All of her eggs were in his basket, but what happened if he tired of her or turned out to be someone else entirely? He never said when they would meet, only that they would. The more she thought about it, the more ridiculous it sounded.
The clay hand felt heavy in her own. It was the hand of a fully grown man, not a seventeen-year-old boy. Athunksounded through her tiny room when she set the mold on her desk.
“Here,” she said, dropping the letter next to Nick’s hand, then watching it disappear into thin air.
8
EIGHTEENTH BIRTHDAY
Letter #57
Happy Birthday, Love,
You grow more beautiful every day.
Did you know I can feel you touch yourself at night? It took me a few times to realize what you were doing. Do you think about me when you do? Tonight, imagine my tongue trailing across your skin because one day it will. I’ll taste every inch of you.
Being away from you is physically painful at times, but each day is one day closer until we meet.
Don’t be upset, but a dress was taken from your room while leaving my last letter. I have returned it along with five new ones made in the same style and size. Ora assisted the seamstress in picking out the best fabrics to use.
The chests have been made slightly bigger because I noticed yours seemed tight. If you enjoy your clothing tight, please use the money I’ve left to have them altered. I want you to be comfortable.
Viciously Yours,
Nick
P.S. There’s also a sling. I know they’re to carry infants, but I think your fox will fit too.
The garish brown fabric mocked Amelia as she stared at the mirror. It had a hideous floral pattern with mixtures of red, pink, purple, and yellow.
If she ever met Ora, she would choke her with it.
9
FIVE MONTHS LATER
“Eddy,” Amelia chided, straightening the fox’s tiny sweater. “What has gotten into you?”
The little rascal weighed all of four pounds soaking wet, but his defiance rivaled that of a teenage boy. Following his arrival shortly after her fifteenth birthday, he’d become her shadow, tagging along wherever she went.
His size made him easy to sneak in and out of the orphanage, but for some reason, he hated sleeping in her room and instead hid under the furniture in the communal areas at night. He never came out from hiding until Amelia was alone, and when she realized she couldn’t convince him to stay in her room, she hid blankets under one of the worn cloth settees where she liked to read.
Usually, he enjoyed wearing the sweaters and coats Nick sent for him. Where her mysteriousmatefound small sweaters with arm and leg holes for a fox, she didn’t know, but today, Eddy kept trying to tear it off.
Hauling him into her arms, she wrestled with him a little longer before giving up. “You can’t be like this today. You have to stay still and quiet in my bag when I get to work.”
