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I felt safe. I felt seen. I was happy and right where I belonged.
“I like the gardens. I don’t think I’ve been out here since I came here.”
“I figured you might.”
A deep indigo blanket stretched above the moon, a mere sliver in a sea of stars. The air hung heavy with humidity, a deceivingly warm embrace that masked the cool bite of the breeze. Every few steps, small purple lights illuminated the pathway, like fairy dust sprinkled on the ground. Benches dotted the way, adorned with bronze plaques bearing the names of the Murdoch Home’s founding fathers— a reminder of their everlasting control.
“Do you come out to the gardens a lot?” I asked, curious to know more about his time here before my arrival.
We stopped in front of a bench, and Fin stared at the bronze image in front of him. Gregory Harkness was the name on the plate.
“Whenever I have the time or when I’m not confined to my room.”
“You get confined a lot, don’t you?” I teased.
He stopped walking and brought my hand to his lips, licking along my knuckles before gently sealing a kiss.
“You have no idea.” Fin pulled me down on a bench overlooking the gate of Murdoch Home. “I’m sorry.”
I craned my neck to look into his brown eyes. “Why?”
“For missing your eighteenth birthday. It was last month, wasn’t it?”
He remembered.
“Um, yeah. I didn’t know you still remembered.”
A menacing cackle, blacker than the endless midnight sky, shattered the silence. My eyes darted to his tattoos, writhing against his throat as if possessed by a malevolent force. He donned a wolf’s smile, so wide that his canines glinted under the moonlight. Every fiber of his being exuded malice, yet I couldn’t shake off the feeling of warmth that washed over me in his presence.
“Just because I didn’t know where you were, doesn’t mean I let you slip from my mind.” He paused and closed his eyes, with his chin pointed towards the sky. “I couldn’t find you because I’ve been in and out of this shithole since they took you from me.” He let his knuckle slide down my cheek. “I’m sorry, my little Barbie.”
“Do you know how long it will be before you leave this place?”
“Never. Harkness will never let me go, darlin. The last time my feet stood outside those gates, I was nineteen years old.”
I swallowed at his words and placed my hand in his as I did the math in my head. My brother, the one person who would burn down the world for me, has been locked away in this place for the past seven years. I always wondered just how horrid his life had been since he left my side, and now I knew.
“What about you? What’s my little sis’s expiration date at the loony bin?”
His words made me giggle, and I realized that was the first time I let one slip between my lips in years.
“My foster parents dropped me off and demanded that the doctors fix me, so I never really got an expiration date,” I answered casually. It was true. The only requirement I needed was that they figured out a way to stop me from touching myself and come back to the light.
But sitting next to Fin right now, I didn’t feel wrong or broken. I wasn’t the girl who came here desperately pleading with my adoptive mother to get me out. If anything, I didn’t want to go back to that house. I wanted to stay here. With him. Forever. Every time I turned to look at Fin, my breath caught in my throat. He was a paradox of beauty and danger, his tattoos snaking across his skin like warning signs. I couldn’t help but let my eyes wander over them again and again. It was becoming a bit of a habit.
I remembered the way I trailed my fingers against his skin, the way my nails scratched along his backside.
I wanted him again.
Wait.You can’t be greedy,I told myself and squeezed my legs together.
From the way his lips curled up, he knew I was watching him, but he didn’t turn to face me head-on.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
My heart raced a beat faster. Was this what being in love felt like?
“Fin?” I let out a breath.
