“So?” he snaps.
“He’s never sent a voice note before.”
When Kai says nothing, I glance up at him. He’s staring at the phone like he’s considering smashing it against the wall.
“Don’t,” he warns quietly, eyes flicking to me. “Whatever he’s selling, we’re not buying.”
“What if something’s wrong?”
“Not our problem.”
But he doesn’t sound sure.
He doesn’t sound sure at all.
“Let’s just listen to it. If it’s his usual psycho bullshit, I’ll delete it. Promise.”
Kai’s jaw works. I can see him fighting with himself—the part that wants to protect me warring with the part that I’m sure is just as desperate to hear Bastian’s voice again as I am.
“Fine,” he finally says, pressing his lips to my naked shoulder with a huff of warm breath against my skin.
I tap the notification and press play on the voice note inside the app.
For a moment, there’s nothing.
Then a breath.
Then—
“I shouldn’t be sending this.”
Bastian’s voice is all wrong. It’shim,but it’s not. It’s hoarse, shaky, like he’s unraveling.
“You’ve made it clear you want space, and I’ve been trying—Christ! I’ve been trying to give you that. But I can’t anymore. I just…I can’t.”
Kai’s hand fumbles against mine until we’re holding each other tight enough to bruise.
Bastian lets out a mangled sound that could have been a sob or a laugh.
“I’m supposed to be saying something clever. Something that’ll make you two come running back to me. But I don’t…I don’t know what I’m doing anymore.”
Another pause. When he speaks again, his voice is quieter.
“I’m tired of…of always being the monster.”
Bastian laughs again, and this time it’s truly a laugh. If a little manic.
“Haven—”His voice cracks on my name, and dear God, suddenly I can’t breathe. Even Kai’s grip flinches at the tortured sound in Bastian’s voice.
“D’you remember what you told me the first day we met? About the cats, and the ladders, and the witch?”
Kai huffs against my shoulder, and I lean my head against his, my eyes sliding closed. I’m so tempted to stop the recording…but I can’t keep lying to Kai about Bastian or about how I feel about him. About them both. If Bastian’s about to reveal something awful about me, then so be it.
I deserve it.
“I laughed it off. But I know what you’ve been going through…because a witch cursed me a long, long time ago too.”
My stomach flips over.
