“Not the weirdest thing yet.” I shut the door before turning to face him. My mouth went dry; my heart raced faster than a horse as I tilted my head back to take him in. I pressed my fingers against the cool metal locker behind me to keep fromtouchinghim.
“Humans are strange,” he murmured, his eyes on my mouth. “What are youlookingfor?”
“I don’t know. Supplies would be a lie. If there had been anything useful left behind, it’s gone by now, but I can’t stop myself from doing something Ineverdo.”
“Whichis?”
“Wondering what could have been,” I admitted. “And I have no idea why I’m tellingyouthat.”
“Because I’m so easy to talk to.” The smile he flashed had me contemplating how fast I could get my pants off. “Plus, you’ll deny it, but you like me. It’s impossible not to; I’m good looking andfunny.”
“Funny looking,” I retorted, but I couldn’t stop myself from smiling back at him. Funny looking andirresistible.
My breath caught when he rested his hand on the locker next to my head. “Only to some.” His eyes met mine before going to the locker behind me. “So what do you think couldhavebeen?”
“I don’t know. I liked learning when I was a kid, and Randy continued to teach me things as I grew, but he had his limits to what he knew and how much he could teach me. It’s not like I could learn chemistry or biology, not when I didn’t have the tools and equipment to do so. There was only so far I could go in math and other subjects. He did his best, and I was lucky he was able to do so muchwithme.”
“Why could he dosomuch?”
His chest brushed against my arm as he moved subtly closer. His masculine scent engulfed me, and those orange eyes became all I could see. “He… ah…” I had to swallow before continuing. “He’d been going to college to be a middle school history teacher when it all happened. He only had a year left to go before graduation. I think it’s why he was so determined to save me. He loved kids, and he refused to let me die no matter how badly I wanted to give up in thebeginning.”
His eyes sharpened on me, and his nostrils flared. “I will not allow youtodie.”
“Thanks, demon,” I teased and patted his chest to soothe any ire my calling him demon might cause him, “but in case you haven’t noticed, you can’t declare something and have it be true. There’s a whole lot of nastiness out there that would like nothing more than toeatus.”
He grabbed my hand and flattened it against his chest. “And I will kill anything that tries to eat you. Other than me, of course, and I’m going to enjoy tasting youagain,Wren.”
His heavy-lidded eyes fell to my mouth once more. Beneath my palm, I felt the increased beat of his heart. Demons may be immortal creatures who feasted on the energy of wraiths, could regrow any body part except their heads, and didn’t have the same bodily functions us humans did, but they had heartbeats and breaths, and right now his pulse was fasterthanmine.
“So sure of yourself,” I said and tugged onmyhand.
I expected him to continue clinging to me, but he released me and stepped aside. “I am sure Ineedyou.”
My lungs had a difficult time drawing air after that revelation, but I finally succeeded in doing so. I forced myself on to the next locker and pulled it open. Someone had scrawled 420 all over the inside of this locker. I had no idea what was so significant about the date or the time, but this person wasobsessed.
Someone’s birthday maybe. I closedthedoor.
Now that I’d started, I felt obsessed too. I didn’t know if I’d be able to stop myself from looking intoallof thelockers.
“Corson?”
“Hmm?”
“Was there ever anything between you and Bale?” I didn’t know why I’d asked the question. The answer might drive me nuts, but I had to know. I couldn’t sit and watch the two of them and wonder allthetime.
I thought I saw a flash of satisfaction in his eyes. My hand clenched. If he said one smug thing, I’d knock him on his ass and hog tie him to the nearest desk. If I’d had an apple, I’d shove it in his mouth too, but a sockwoulddo.
“I don’t mix business with pleasure,”hesaid.
“What doesthatmean?”
“Bale and I have worked with Kobal for centuries, but that isallwe’ve done. There would have been no jealousies between us afterward, no feelings, but I prefer to keep my sex partners separated from my work ones, and sodoesBale.”
Relief burst through me, and it took all I had not to clap my hands in delight. “Isee.”
Corson walked beside me while I continued down the hall and peered into each locker I opened. “Why does this place smell like that?” he inquired after a fewminutes.
I sniffed at the air and sneezed. “It’s mildew, dust, and decay,” I muttered as I wiped at my nose. The decay wasn’t only the wood doors rotting or the lockers rusting, but also the rot of death. I didn’t know where it was coming from, but animals and probably some humans had lost their lives in this place. “Everything smells likethatnow.”
