He starts as I grab the knife, yank it from his grip, and fling it across the room.
“VAUGHN!” I blurt, cupping his face, trying to pierce through the demonic, vicious glint in his eyes. “Vaughn, it’sme! Evie! You’re home! You’re safe!”
“THERE IS NO YOU WITHOUT?—”
My palm cracks sharply against his face. Suddenly, with a choked gasp, his gaze returns to normal.
The cold sneer on his face drops, and he blinks rapidly, his brow furrowed as he focuses on me.
His eyes dart to the knife on the floor across the room before his gaze drags back to me.
“Evelina,” he chokes.
Tears spring to my eyes as I wrap my arms around him, hugging him tightly as I cry into his shoulder.
“I see you,” I sob, my breath catching as I hug him so tight it hurts. “I’m here, and I see you.”
I have no idea what the hell that was just now.
But I do know that I’m not going anywhere.
37
EVELINA
“I needto ask you something, Evie.”
My phone is pinched between my ear and my shoulder as I juggle a coffee and my dance bag while making my way down the alley behind the Mercury.
“Hang on, I’m…ahhh,crap!” I yelp as hot coffee spills from the to-go cup and scalds my hand.
Roman sighs. “Never mind. If you’re busy, we can talk later.”
“No, it’s fine, I’m just…one sec.”
When I finally get to the back door, I shrug my bag off my shoulder, set the coffee down on the fire escape, and take a deep breath.
“Sorry, Rome, I’m a hot mess this morning.” I frown. “What’s going on?”
My brother clears his throat but doesn’t say anything.
“Uhh…Roman?”
“How was your sleepover at Milena’s?”
God, I hate lying.
For the last two weeks, since I walked in on whatever it was that I saw in Vaughn’s kitchen, I’ve been staying at his place.
In his bed.
With him.
Ilovethat that’s my new reality. We do normal, regular people stuff like eat dinner together or watch dumb TV shows on the couch.
Then, obviously, we do the not-so-regular people stuff: aka, have brutally rough, violent, sadistic sex.
I’malwayssore and bruised.
