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The sounds of retching stop. My breath catches, and I lean my head against the wood. For a long time, I hear nothing, and then, the faintest sound escapes her. It may be a sob.
“Lily?” I bang my fist on the door. “You alive in there?”
No reply.
“If you dunked my toothbrush in the toilet bowl, I will give you the meanest lady-wedgie in your sleep,” I growl.
A faint snort. A laugh.
“Do you want me to call down to reception and order you a hot dog with extra hot mustard? That’s still your favorite, right? This place looks fancy as shit, so it’ll probably be sprinkled with foie gras or some shit, but I’m sure we can scrape it off.”
Silence.
“Okay, that’s cool. Listen, I’m going to bed. I promise that I won’t hassle you anymore. Just…have a shower and gargle and then come to bed when you’re ready.”
“I don’t have to do what you say,” comes the defiant voice from the other side of the door.
Sounds like someone is feeling more like herself again.
“I’ll sleep on the floor,” I offer.
“It’s fine, Brooks. Just…don’t look at me, okay?”
“Sure, Lily.”
The promise feels like a lead weight in my gut. My arms itch to wrap around her, and my dick jerks at the sound of her voice, excited for another glimpse of her ass. He’s not getting his wish tonight. I may be a complete fucking asshole, but I can be a gentleman for Lily when she needs me.
While the shower runs and steam curls under the door, I kick off my jeans and shirt and crawl into the side of the bed closest to the window. I face away from the bathroom door, but that feels so completely wrong that I flip over so I’m facing her side. I close my eyes because I promised not to look.
But no fucking way am I sleeping. Not if I’m sharing a bed with Lily Dean.
The creak of the bathroom door has my eyes flying open. There she is, a silhouette in the doorframe, her hair stringy from the shower, that fucking T-shirt clinging in all the right places.
How come even now she undoes me utterly?
She takes one tentative step toward the bed, then another. I remember I’m not supposed to look, so I close my eyes almost completely, peering at her through the tangle of my eyelashes.
Lily looks terrified and…something else. Something dark and haunted and intriguing that makes my dick fuckingdance.
The bed creaks as Lily sits down on the edge. The markings on the wall behind her glow faintly, casting an otherworldly sheen across her fiery mane, like flames dancing in the moonlight.
Her eyes are puffy. Her limbs are trembling. Shehasbeen crying.
I did that. Those tears belong to me.
But it’s for her own good.
Ever since the night of Lily’s sixteenth birthday, when I kissed her, I’ve been trying to make her hate me. If she hates me, she won’t want anything to do with me, and it’s much easier to keep her away from our world when that’s her choice. But now that she’s here, in my bed, and she was the Shadow all along…
I don’t know what to do with her now. Usually, I hate not knowing things, but Lily Dean makes me reckless. She makes me want to dive into the unknown, especially when the unknown lies between two shapely thighs that are dangerously close to me right now…
“Brooks, I can see you peeking.” Lily makes a face as she settles in, leaving at least a foot of bed empty between us. She makes a show of sliding her dagger beneath her pillow before thumping it into shape. I bet she’s imagining it’s my face. “Ifyou ask meone more question, I will choke you with this heart-shaped pillow mint.”
“You have a mint?” My voice cracks a little. I can’t help it.
My parents used to bring back pillow mints and those tiny bottles of hotel shampoo for me and my brothers after their hunts. I always let the twins have the mints. The oldest brother goes without.
“I just found it in the sheets.” She holds up the foil-wrapped chocolate, her eyes dancing with delight as if she found some ancient treasure. “You probably have one, too. Maybe it slid off.”
