By the time I finished dinner, the sun brushed low against the horizon. The apartment glowed deep orange and pink.
It was late. Where was Chase?
As I covered the food to keep it hot, I heard the front door jiggle. My heart raced as Chase burst inside. His hair was swept in every direction, and his cheeks were pink from exertion. The set of his brows made me think they’d been furrowed for hours.
But his expression flipped when he saw me.
“Sagitta,” he rasped. Relief dripped from his voice. “Where have you been?”
I blinked. Did he expect me to be elsewhere?
“I... I’ve been here the entire time,” I told him.
Chase let out a sigh that was almost a wail. He ran over, grabbed me, and hugged me hard.
Heat rushed to my face. I stayed frozen, not sure why he was reacting that way.
“I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” he cried.
“Wh... what?”
“I searched the whole mall, top to bottom—twice. When I didn’t find you there, I retraced my steps to all the places we’d been together. The donut shop, the sex toy store, even the fucking alley we kissed in.”
My heart thumped with frantic, syrupy beats. Why did he sound so relieved?
“The only place I didn’t check was the temple ‘cause I didn’t want to run into Cygnet, but I wasthisclose. Then I came back here and checked. Fuck, I’m glad I did.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, confused and dazed. “I thought... I thought you wanted me to leave you alone.”
Chase escaped the hug so he could face me. His expression twisted into pure confusion. “Why would I want that?”
My chest contorted into knots, squeezing the pain up and out. The difficult words finally poured out of me.
“Because I failed you. The one thing I’m supposed to be good at, and I couldn’t do it. And today, my incompetence as an exorcist cost you your job.”
Tears stung my eyes, and this time they weren’t from the onions.
Understanding dawned on Chase’s face. He gripped my shoulders. “Dude, fuck that. You’re more important to me than some shitty minimum wage job.”
I sucked in a small, sharp breath.
I’m important to him?
“Is that why you look so scared? Because you think I was pissed about getting fired?” he asked.
I hadn’t even realized that I looked scared. Normally I was better at hiding my emotions, but today was rough. It got under my skin.
“That, and the fact that you’re still possessed,” I mumbled.
Chase blew out a breath. “Yeah, okay. That sucks. And it sucks that I got fired. But...” He grimaced. “I was being a moron. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have lashed out at you. None of what happened was your fault.”
Self-deprecating anger flared in my chest. “Yes, it was. If I’d performed that first exorcism properly—”
“—then we wouldn’t be together right now,” Chase stated.
He said it with such resounding finality that it made me stop and stare.
“Then... you’re not mad at me?” I asked.
