Step.
Exhale.
Step.
Inhale.
Fuck!
I turned to see Thay fixed in place, leaning against a pillar of white. He gave a gentle nod and mouthed,Keep going.
Inhale.
Step!
Exhale.
I glanced at him one last time, trying desperately to remember everything I already knew by heart and…
Step.
In tandem with my panic, I put my earbuds in and hit his number.
“Hot damn, you look good from behind,” he flirted, but there were chasms in his tone, falling over me like a black waterfall.
Inhale.
Step.
“Why are you being all flirty with me?”Inhale.Step.“It is evil, you know.”
“Yeah, but you prefer villains.”
“I do not!” I exclaimed.
“The hell you don’t. You threw a shoe at the club TV when the Beast turned into the prince.”
I gagged at the memory, stepping onto a moving walkway and pretending not to notice the way it made me feel like a vampire moving in slow motion.
“Nobody wants that blonde thing with perfect arches when they could have a growly beast who unalives anyone who touches you and gives you a library.”
“You want a library, Daph?”
“I’ve always wanted to get laid in one.” I laughed, feeling both slightly better and a thousand times worse. “Maybe you can ask Wolfe for me. He’s next to you, right?”
I waited for his usual scoff to fill the silence, but he said nothing.
“Thay?”
“I’m here. Are you almost at the gate?” he asked, his voice sterile and far away.
I looked up, searching for the number 24, and paused.
“Daphne?”
“Why did you get weird?” I asked, remembering the way his fingers splayed against my spine.
“I just…walk.” He swallowed, and I took another step.
