I tried to lunge at him, but he hip-checked me onto the couch, and while I was busy bouncing off it, he snatched up the sketch pad. It tumbled open in his hands, a loose paper sliding free. I cringed as a charcoal drawing of his bicep floated to the ground.
His smile widened as he flipped to the first page, and he shot me the most unctuous, self-satisfied look I had ever seen. “I knew you were obsessed with me.”
I launched myself off the couch and tried to grab it from him, but he held it out of reach, and I wasnotabout to jump for it like a kid on a playground. It was too late anyway. The damage was done and now his ego would be so big, there’d be no speaking to him. Good thing this was our last night together.
A small frisson of disappointment wormed through me at the thought, and I tried to push it down.
Theo flipped another page, smile dropping, a line appearing between his brows. “These are really good.”
“Yes, and? You’ve seen my work. Why are you surprised?”
He shot me a look. “I wasn’t fully convinced you did it yourself.”
“Get out,” I said, pointing toward the door.
He ignored me, flipping another page. “Wow, you’re, like,reallyobsessed with me.”
I couldn’t believe I’d just had the best sex of my life with this asshole.
A tearing sound filled the apartment as he ripped a page free.
“Hey!” I said, reaching for it.
“I’m taking this one with me.” He flipped it around, and I saw his face in profile. It was probably the simplest sketch I’d made of him, his chin resting on his hand, looking bored.
“Why that one?” I asked, confused as to why he’d choose it over the much more elaborate pen-and-ink of him sitting on a throne, an ice crown on his head, flanked by faceless sycophants.
“It’s the first one you drew, so it must have been the moment you realized you were in love.”
“I am going to close my eyes, and by the time I open them, you better be gone.”
“Aww, don’t be mad.”
A hand slid around my waist. I cracked my eyes open, and yup, he was back to wearing his most obnoxious grin. The one that made me want to punch him.
“Goodbye, Stella,” he said, closing the distance between us. He gave me one last drugging kiss, and for some stupid reason, I let him.
Afterward, he stepped back and shot me a wink. “Text me when you realize you can’t live without me.”
“Goodbye forever,” I said.
With a laugh, he turned and left the apartment. I waited a minute, and then followed after him to make sure he was really gone before I set the security alarm. Once that was done, I headed back upstairs, where I fought my curiosity for a solid ten minutes before realizing it was a losing battle. With a sigh, I went downstairs again.
Elayne frequently did glow-in-the-dark tattoos, and she had a big black light in her booth that she turned on during the application process. I took it into the shop’s bathroom and plugged it in, slipping my bathrobe to my waist and putting my back to the mirror. Theo’s fingers had moved so slowly that I hadn’t been able to make out the letters as he’d written them. The way he’d paused to drop kisses along the back of my shoulders and then down my ribs made me think he’d been in his feels, like maybe he wanted a little more time together to explore this inexplicable, totally fucked up,thingbetween us.
And what he’d said . . .
“If this is the only night we have together, I want to know you fell asleep with my words on your skin. That part of me is still here with you after I’m gone.”
He’d definitely written something sentimental or possessive. Something he probably hadn’t wanted me to see, but how else was I supposed to get a glimpse into what was really going on in that thick skull of his?
I turned the black light on and the lights off. My back glowed in the mirror, and it took me a second to decipher the words because they were not only backward, but slightly smeared.
F . . .
U . . .
C . . .
