Fuck. I shouldn’t be able to do this. I don’t know why I can do this.Yes, you fucking do. You know exactly why, my own mind screams at me.
Though, Kylie’s thoughts practically overpower it.I just don’t get why he hates me so much.
This feelswrong. And way too invasive.
I clear my throat, struggling to block out any and all other thoughts while simultaneously setting her mind at ease. To somehow, without exposing myself to a total surrender of control, convey that I don’t hate her. “Kylie, I’m…sorry. For the way I am with you. It’s not…personal. Really. I find you…quite tolerable.”
“Quite tolerable?” Her giggle shocks me. “Well, thanks, Rook,” she says, now smiling at me. “I think you’re prettytolerabletoo. Especially when you’re saving me from trash purgatory for another week and fixing my flats in the dark, cold, late night. The past twenty-four hours are really advancing your bid for the knight in shining armor position in my life.”
The corner of my mouth lifts before I can stop it.
And the ache in my chest eases just a bit.
“I should get back to my route,” I say, even though every part of me wants to stay exactly where I am.
“Of course,” she says, bouncing to ward off the cold, while a blush steals the peach of her cheeks and replaces it with red. “I have to get to work too.”
“Bye, Kylie,” I allow myself to say, the satisfaction of her name on my tongue giving temporary aid to my ongoing chest pain.
“Goodbye, Rook.”
She backs into her garage, and I turn to make the lonely walk back to my truck. When I climb inside, the garage door has closed, and the pain is back with full force. If vampires were susceptible to heart attacks, I surely would’ve already kicked the bucket.
I grit my teeth against the urge to sit there—to escort her to work, to the rink, and back home again like some kind of guard dog she never asked for—and force my attention forward.
I know where that road leads. I know the fight waiting at the end of it. And I know the danger it puts her in, the danger it puts my brothers in.
I know the fallout won’t just stop with me.
If I give in to what’s pulling me—if I stop pushing back against the current between us—everythingchanges.
But the truth I keep circling is simpler than all of that.
Protecting her isn’t something I chose.
It’s something I can’tnotdo.
I’d burn everything to the fucking ground just to keep her safe.
Kylie
It’s only Tuesday, but it feels like it should be Friday.
Between the flat tire last night, sprinting outside this morning in my underwear, and the fact that Rook Slater has somehow lodged himself firmly in my head, I’m already running on fumes—and my workday has barely started.
Add in four thousand tasks that appeared on my to-do list overnight, and I’m hanging on by a thread.
Thankfully, I’m not the only one suffering. Martin looks like he’s one deduction question away from an orange jumpsuit, and because misery loves company, I appreciate the solidarity.
Sighing heavily, I work through crossed eyes to make sense of a return that stopped making sense an hour ago, and I fight an earnest battle not to look at the clock again.
There’s no point—I know that—because it only makes the spreadsheets feel worse and the time feel longer, but old habits die hard when you’re a glutton for punishment. The last time I reset the metaphorical whiteboard withminutes since last lossof willpower,it was six thirty, and upon stupid inspection now, it’s six thirty-two.
God help me. This day is the equivalent of eternity.
My phone buzzes on a stack of manila folders, and I dive to answer it, eager for any and all respite.
And you thought it might be Rook for some reason too.
