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‘Have you been reading me?’ I behold the contents of the paper, open on my column. My words jumble together as my anxiety gets the better of me.
‘Don’t get ahead of yourself.’
‘You were ignoring me for… me?’ My lip juts and my eyes go wide.
His biceps flex as his head falls into his hands, like he’s just broken some cardinal rule. ‘I’m never going to hear the end of this, am I?’
‘Of you actually being sweet? Yeah, nah. You’re not.’ I grin. ‘Aw! You big softie! Would you like me to read it out to you.’
‘I would like to pretend this never happened.’
‘Damn, son. You got it bad.’
He concedes with a head tilt. ‘I think I do,’ he admits.
I’ve never wanted to touch him more.
‘What’s this?’ he asks, nodding at the phone in my hands and the open Door app.
Finally!
‘Oh, it’s just a notification,’ I say, coy. Shrugging with one shoulder for good measure. One look at him tells me I’m not quite selling it.
Walker’s head tilts and there’s a devious glint in his eyes. He’s come to play, with one arm slung over the back of the couch and the other toying with a strand of my hair. ‘Are you trying to make me jealous, Miller?’
Stars. The timbre of his voice and the way he’s leaning does things to me I have no right to feel for someone dead.
‘Is it working?’
He leans closer, brushing my cheek, before whispering, ‘No,’ and pulling back, looking entirely too self-satisfied with the way he’s managed to fluster me.
My nose scrunches before I can catch it and wrangle my features back to neutral ground.
‘That’s great, ’cause I actually find it really unattractive when a man / ghost gets jealous.’ I wave.
‘Is that right?’
‘Yeah, it’s a complete turn off,’ I say, turning back towards the screen. Vlad has started to croon a stripped back and slowed down rendition of ‘Don’t Fear the Reaper’ to Stacey P. while he taps out of time on a cowbell.
‘Is that why you only just turned on your notifications for Door?’
Damnit. I’ve been had! How to run this back?
‘Yes. It was a test.’
‘Did I pass?’ He tugs my hair.
I side-eye him with consideration. ‘I’d give you an extinction.’
‘You mean distinction.’
‘I know what I mean.’
The dimple appears. He’s amused. Take that, written me!
‘Are you going to delete it?’ he asks.
‘Is that what you want?’ I fish, while I scroll through my matches and wonder what in the Stars I was thinking when I swiped on half these idiots.
