“I have a tie withyou. End of story. And if it makes you feel any better, you can look at the fact that Costa tripped us both. That’s another thing that ties you and me together.”
He laughs lightly. “So, Costa’s kind of our daddy?”
“If you’d like to think of yourself as my brother, then a number of things are going to have to change.”
“Okay, scratch that,” he says quickly.
“Good. Because I won’t give you up. I can’t. And I might not know much about this, but if I’m your power augmenter, that has to mean something much more significant than who tripped me.” I nestle in more. “Maybe Costa is right about one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“That making me a death tripper needed to happen. It makes some kind of crazy sense, doesn’t it?”
“Don’t say that, Stell.”
“You know it’s true.”
“I’ll never be able to justify what he did. Nothing in the world is worth doing this to you. That trip you went on was a one-time deal.” His body heat engulfs me, traveling easily from his core to mine. “At least your surge had some good moments. I mean, after the stabbing-Costa incident. Not sure it makes up for all the other downsides though.”
“I don’t know. That was some pretty good sex.”
“Pretty good?” he says with mock irritation. “Seriously?”
“It was insanely, amazingly good.”
“I know, right? Sex when both of us were surging? That idea never even occurred to me.”
“So,youwould have tripped me if it had?” I tease.
“Funny, funny. Besides, sober sex with you is more than I could ever ask for. The surge is great. It is. But—”
I finish his thought, “It’s fueled by the wrong things.”
“Yeah, it is. And it’s addictive.”
“I’m already addicted,” I say, “to you, to making love with you, to being in love with you.”
“Good. Because I am equally addicted to you.”
“Even the new me?”
“Yes, Stella. Of course.”
“Show me.” I squirm against him. I have leftover surge powering me, but I don’t care where it’s coming from. I need release. “Let’s just enjoy the surge. We know there’s good underneath it.”
“You’re not too tired?” But he’s already rolled me on to my back and positioned his body over mine.
“For you? Never.”
