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He kneels in front of me and pulls a little stone from his pocket, placing it in my palm. It’s smooth and ebony—onyx? “For anything. Someone, something,anything.Wait for a devil like me if you have to.”
I narrow my eyes at Liam. He’s fucking insane. “I don’t know you, I don’t think—”
He laughs and covers my mouth with his hand. His scent sweeps over me; his cologne smells earthy, woodsy. “You didn’t let me finish.” Liam pulls his hand back. “You should wait… and it doesn’t have to be for anything specific. I’m just saying—wait for the weight of the world to pass. Wait until the tremors that wrack through your skull drift into the depths again. Wait until the sun rises, and the light makes you feel a little less pointless.”
We stare at one another for a few silent moments. I’m speechless because what he said made that wall in my mind crack. I haven’t cried in years, nor do I feel the tears now, but his words sink deeper than most have in a really long time.
Almost… like he gets it.
“What if waiting doesn’t work?” I whisper.
Liam smiles easily at me. His presence is like an eerie forest. I want to stay for a while and sit quietly in his dreary gravity. “You let me know and I’ll hold you until the darkness fades.”
Why does he act like he cares about me? “Why would you offer me something like that? Why do you care if I’m alive?” I furrow my brows at him. Vulnerability tugs at my heart.
His eyes narrow and that taunting smile returns to his lips. “Because it’s so much better to watch things squirm in pain than simply die, Wynn. You’ll let me know, won’t you?” He extends his hand to me with his pinky out. I consider him for a moment before deciding to entertain whateverthisis.
Almost all his fingers have some sort of black ring wrapped around them, some matte, others glossy. The matte ones look exactly like the ring I found on my nightstand last night. The back of his hand is completely tattooed with simple lines that run over his tendons as if his veins are branches.
Thispromisedoesn’t mean anything… and I’m going to mini prison tomorrow anyway. So why not have one day of dark fairytale bliss?
“Okay, I will.” I wrap my pinky around his, gripping the stone he gave me in my other hand. “What’s with the stone?”
He gazes nostalgically at my fisted hand. I wonder if onyx means a lot to him, given that he has so many.
“It’s onyx. Rumored to banish grief. You’ll have to let me know if it works for you—I didn’t get much use out of it.”
The stone warms in my palm with the meaning he gives it. I have no clue if that’s true or not, it’s a fucking rock for all I know, but the mind is a powerful thing. The hope that itcouldbanish grief is more than I’ve had in a while.
“Do you think… it can cure me?”
He tilts his head and his eyes darken as he murmurs, “No—”
“What thehellareyoudoing in here?”
James stands furiously in the doorway.
Liam flinches and a nervous grin forms on his beautiful face. He winks at me before shoving his hands into his hoodie pocket and heading toward James and the exit. “Was just leaving, man. See you later, Wynn.'' He raises his hand in a wave and his ebony rings glint back at me. I try to remember every little thing about him, because I’m not sure fate will ever bring us together again.
I look back down at the stone he gave me and a smile tugs my lips.Liar—those rings are all onyx.He’s still holding onto the hope they’ll banish his grief too.
3
Wynn
James pulls upto the pick-up bay of the hospital in his blacked-out Escalade. He’s worked really hard to get where he is, which makes me uncomfortable because I don’t know how much this institution is costing him, not to mention my hospital bills that he also demanded to shoulder from me.
It’s pouring rain today. The crisp scent of the world entering its slumber and the pitter-patter on the pavement soothe my anxiety. I stand under the awning with one of the medical assistants as the SUV pulls around the loop.
James gets out and thanks the staff member as I slip inside the passenger-side door. He has country music playing; I scowl at the sound of it, scrolling the sound all the way down before he gets back in the car. He throws my small duffle bag in the back seat and shuts the door a little too hard, tipping me off that he’s in a hurry.
“Long morning?” I ask after he clicks his seatbelt. I rub the sleeves of my oversized gray sweater between my thumb and forefinger, a nervous tick I need to shake.
He runs his hand through his brown hair, slicking it back with droplets of rain, and scoffs. “That’s an understatement. It’s been a fucking shit show trying to get all my appointments moved around today. I’ll have to hop into a meeting when we get to Harlow but it shouldn’t be more than thirty minutes. Then we’ll get all the paperwork wrapped up quickly so I can catch my flight back home.”
“I’m not a fucking dog that you’re dropping off at a pound… I can handle the paperwork. You don’t need to stay if you’re busy.” I try to keep the disappointment out of my voice, but it’s hard. He’s like Mom before she died, pretending like work is more important than anything else in life—like he’ll never die.
His eyes dart over to me, shock and a bit of hope brimming in them. “Really? That would help out a lot, actually.”
