Page 356 of Eight of Swords, Part Two

Inside the book is a thin, glassy leaf, perfectly preserved, attached to a thin chain that acts as a bookmark.

‘What’s this?’

‘That was hers.’

‘Mimi’s.’

‘They gave it back to me when I came out of prison.’

‘Lachlan, this just feels like a consolation gift.’

‘It’s not. I promise. You’re in there too. Look, see?’

The leaf holds the place of a page filled with beautiful, looped longhand. Kade feels a weird tug behind his navel, recognises some of his own handwriting in the inky details. He reads a single paragraph.

He drives me fucking crazy. Every day I have to find a way to not let it get to me. He’s always there. He’s under my skin, in my heart, my head, and to him I’m just a pain in the ass ‘kid’ he’s paid to look after, but he doesn’t know I kept his shirt.

‘That was very early on,’ Lachlan points out. ‘You never wrote typical entries or anything. Just whatever was upsetting you at the time, hence why I feature a fair amount.’

Kade flips through until the handwriting changes on a different page.

April 12th, 2016.

It was raining the day I signed the contract.

A contract he hadn’t known would bind him in more ways than one.

‘I don’t know if I can read this.’

‘You don’t have to. It’s just yours.’

‘Keep it and give it to me after.’

‘Kade.’ Lachlan drops a kiss to his shoulder. ‘I’m gonna do everything I can to stay, but I’m a practical man at heart. Troy Harker is dead. I want you to have this.’

Tonguing his teeth as his throat thickens, Kade nods. ‘OK.’

‘Thank you. Get some sleep now. Tomorrow, we’ll deal with all of it.’

Kade sets the book down. ‘Will you stay here?’

Lachlan gives a wry grin. ‘If I stay, I don’t think you’ll want to sleep.’

‘I’ll sleep when I’m dead.’

‘Don’t say that. Don’t even joke,’ he warns.

‘Imagine how I feel, you giving me this book as some humongous token of I’ll always be with you.’

Lachlan sighs heavily, hand on his cheek.

He’s doing that thing again, reading him, memorising Kade.

‘I’d have sold my soul for a single day more with you, and I got seven.’

‘Eight’s better.’

‘Yeah, eight would be better, and I said I’ll try, but we can’t save the world if you’re tired, so.’ Lachlan kisses him once. ‘Get some rest. Plenty to do in the morning.’