Page 131 of Breathe Like Hell

The trees broke open for the road, and I stared at the cars speeding over the asphalt while their drivers had no clue an angel was flying above them. An angel and the human girl who loved him, caught in his grasp. Micah brought us a little lower, keeping us in line with the road. It was familiar, a road I’d been down many times, but now I was thinking again about the roadkill I’d seen with Mason on the shoulder here. The lifeless doe, lying on the unforgiving pavement, silent and still.

Had she been running when she was hit, fleeing for her life, or had she been stuck standing still? Was she staring at the forest or the headlights?

Micah’s wings were beating strong on either side of us, enough that I could feel the air moving, pressing against me. The wind swept us higher, carrying us up towards the gray clouds, towards the darkening blanket that threatened rain.

Exhilaration filled my lungs along with the fear, making me feel almost weightless. Like I could pretend I was the one flying. The black feathers rippling on the wind were mine.

Micah pivoted to bring us back towards the cliff, then his grip tightened even further as we dropped out of the sky. He slowed us right before we reached the ground, then put me on my feet. As I stepped away from him, the cold cloak of invisibility fell off my shoulders and I could breathe again.

“Thank you,” I said, breathless.

“You’re welcome.”

“I’m kinda cold now.” I wrapped my arms around myself, looking out over the ocean and sniffling as cold wind scraped my cheeks. “Can we go home?”

Micah looped his arm over my shoulders, tucking me against his side as he pulled me away from the cliff, back onto the path in the forest. “Is my house home to you now?”

“I don’t know.” My cheeks flushed with something other than cold, burning pink and shy.

“I’d like it if that was the case. I want you to feel comfortable there.”

“I do,” I promised.

“That’s good.” Micah squeezed me tighter against his side as we walked through the forest. When I turned my head to look up at his face, he looked lighter than normal, like he was thinking, for the first time, maybe we could actually figure a way into the center of his labyrinth together.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

MASON

There was a knock at the door to my apartment. I literally flinched. It was so unexpected. I wasn’t sure anyone had ever knocked on my door since I’d moved here. It wasn’t like I’d ordered food delivery, and my mail was always delivered to the mail room.

I got up from the couch, leaving Dakota curled up under a blanket, and looked through the peephole.

Micah?

What the fuck?

I opened the door tentatively, unsure of how to feel about this. Did he have bad news? What reason could he possibly have to show up at my apartment like this unannounced?

But the second I got the door open, he was shoving his way inside, and it was immediately clear he did not have bad news. I had no idea what his mood was, but it was not grief or solemnity.

He stalked past me towards Dakota on the couch, who was wide-eyed and staring, her cheeks blushing pink. She reached up for him as he approached her, letting him lift her into his arms, kissing his mouth, tucking her head against the side of his neck.

“Mason,” Micah started. “Come on.”

Dakota’s eyes flicked upward to meet mine over Micah’s shoulder. I wasn’t sure if she knew why he was here, but I didn’t think so.

Maybe I should’ve questioned Micah, resisted him a bit, but I didn’t.

Had they made up?

I’d pissed him off at the diner, which I shouldn’t have done.

Some bullshit about how she chose to shoot me instead of him, and it meant she was choosing me—in a way. She’d buried her bullets in my heart, not his. He was the outsider on the beach.

I hadn’t regretted trying to hurt him, but maybe I was starting to realize I should’ve.

Because now he was carrying her into my bedroom, like he fucking owned the place.