Crush.
The unknown is so goddamn beautiful and alluring until you’re being annihilated in the wake of an antimatter collision.
Once it’s begun, the process is violent and unstoppable.
I shove my helmet on and start the engine with a roar, drowning out the lingering notes of her haunting melody. If I could keep her at a distance, maybe I could do this. But after holding her close, knowing how right her body feels against mine, breathing in her addictive scent that burns my throat with the hunger to taste her…
Fuck, I won’t survive the next six weeks. Every second I’m forced to be near her, craving her until the moment the sun goes dark, will be goddamn agony.
I twist the throttle hard, and my bike lurches forward.
Maybe it makes me weak, but Collins can’t remain at Stonehurst until then. She’s giving me no choice.
And yet, stubbornly, even defiantly, the scientist in me wants to test her theory—to see if it’s as simple as combing through my mind with a little therapy and a hot fuck.
“Christ,” I mutter, gunning the engine harder to escape my thoughts.
Honestly, the outcome would be simple enough to reach. Either I’m on the brink of discovery?—
Or I’m nothing more than a killer.
The idea that many stars form with a companion has been suggested before, but the question is: how many? Based on our simple model, we say that nearly all stars form with a companion.
—DR. SARAH SADAVOY, PROFESSOR OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY, QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY
10
Knight Moves
Time is nature’s way of keeping everything from happening all at once.
—JOHN ARCHIBALD WHEELER
COLLINS
Laurel once told me the dark side of psychology is far more nuanced, that we have to be delicate when wading through the deep waters of the mind.
When I asked her about the light side, she smiled and said, “What light side?”
When it comes to the mind, there is no region untouched by shadows—only varying depths of darkness.
Some run too deep to tread.
Delving into psychotherapy to explore a patient’s past requires patience and a tactful, respectful approach. Peeling back layers of trauma is not unlike a burn victim suddenly recovering feeling in damaged nerve endings. We need to take care not to shatter the mind.
But we also have to guard ourselves from being infected by the muck we wade through.
Sensitization can work both ways.
Just try not to be so damn tempting, angel.
Orion’s warning echoes through my mind, sparking an enticing thrill at the memory of his rough tone. Confirmation enough that I’m getting under his skin.
Meanwhile, Dr. Eugene Prescott is seated on the beige sofa in my office. Dirty-blond hair neatly trimmed and combed back, clean-shaven and smelling of expensive cologne, he wears his fine academic attire like a statement.
He keeps his phone held at an angle where he can view the screen as I take a seat in the wingback chair across from him. “Banner set you up nice here,” he says, giving the office an appraising scan. “Keeping you busy, apparently.”
I offer a practiced smile, hearing what’s implied beneath. I’ve beengivena nice position.
