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I’m not trying to be snarky. The air quotes just come naturally to me.
“How could she have known that I was dealing with any of this?“ I ask him. “Like, do you think she was spying on me?“
He licks his lips, a ray of sunshine glinting on the lenses of his glasses as he does. “I don’t know. This is a wild idea, but maybe you can talk to her about it?“
I scoff, gesturing wildly with my hands. “I’m talking to her about it, Rei. In case you missed the last few hours of my life, I’m sitting down and introducing her to you guys, so yeah, I’m talking. We’re talking.“
“No, you’re talking,“ he replies. “You’re not listening.“
I have to hold back the urge to wince at his words. He didn’t say them harshly, but I still find them cutting. Mostly because he’s right. I’m not listening. When it comes to my mom, I don’t want to listen.
He takes a step toward me, long fingers wrapped around my arm as he pulls me close to him. “We’re all right here,“ he says. “And if this gets to be too much, if you can’t deal with it, we can leave. And then we can come back later, when you feel better.“
“But we do have to come back later.“
“If you want answers, yes. And, when we do come back, you’re going to have to ask her questions, no matter how much you don’t want to hear the answers.“
I shake my head. “I don’t want to be here, Rei. I can deal with nightmares. I can…I can just go back to sleep. Other people don’t sleep and they’re not possessed.“
“No,“ he says, his hand on the small of my back as he pulls me close to him.
“What?“ I ask, looking up into his angular dark eyes.
“I don’t accept this for you, and honestly, Trine, neither should you,“ he says. He strokes the outline of my jaw with his thumb until he hooks it under my chin and tilts my head up so I’m looking right at him. “You don’t have to sleep like shit. You don’t have to wait until you start seeing things, until you don’t want to sleep yourself.“
“But…“
“Wait,“ he says softly, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “I’m not done speaking.“
I clamp my mouth shut.
“I don’t know if you’re possessed. I don’t think I can know. But I know that you aren’t alone, and you don’t have to live with this. And you shouldn’t be okay with it. You should want better for yourself.“
I sigh, slumping in his arms as he pulls me close enough to him to kiss the tip of my nose. It’s sweet and mild and I’m surprised by his feathersoft touch. He’s so gentle, it makes me melt in his arms.
I know he cares about me. I know we’re doing this because they all care.
There’s a part of me, though, that just thinks about how much easier it would be if I wasn’t here at all.
But then he presses his lips against mine and claims my mouth with his, his teeth raking along my bottom lip until I moan softly and open my mouth. His tongue slides inside my mouth and we kiss passionately as he presses my body against the railing of the balcony.
I can feel the hard muscles under his shirt, lean and wiry in a way that I didn’t necessarily expect. His skin is perfectly soft as he slides his hand down the length of my arm. He pulls away from me, his breath hot against my skin as he wraps his arms around my waist.
He’s such a good kisser, it’s easy to forget where I am. I kiss him back hungrily, my hands hooked behind his neck, until I go to wrap my legs around his waist so I can pull him close to me. He’s hard, and I can feel him already, and fuck, I want him so, so much…
But he groans as he pulls away from me instead, his perfectly soft fingers suddenly on my leg instead. “Later,“ he says.
I protest with a whimper as he untangles his body from mine.
“I mean it,“ he says. “Help yourself first. Then I’ll give you everything you want.“
I smile at him, my cheeks reddening when I see the intense expression on his face. “Everything?“
He smiles back at me. “Yes,“ he says. “Everything.“
TRINE
Iknow Rei is right. He holds my hand for a few seconds and says nothing, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips as he pulls away from me. He grabs my hand and presses a kiss against my knuckles. “You’re already here, Trine. You might as well go all in.“
