Page 86 of Bones

I would sacrifice the world for her happiness.

It took longer and more effort for me to force my question out. “What’s your address?”

Her alarmed gaze shot to me, and she frantically shook her head. “No,yourhome.”

Thank fuck.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

STOP DOING THAT

AURORA

Deke didn’t say anything else.Helping me to my feet, he guided me to a secluded spot near the house. Since we’d been there for hours, it was dark enough that no one could see us. I could barely see him, and he stood right in front of me.

That twisting, thrilling sensation spiraled through me like we were on a roller coaster with endless corkscrews.

Upside down.

Right side up.

The highest heights.

The steepest drops.

All in a matter of milliseconds.

I was breathing heavy when the world snapped into place around us. Being back in the cabin was enough to make my muscles unclench.

It looked nothing like the house I’d shared with Ryan. There was no meticulously manicured landscaping. No pool that was cleaned three times a week. No endless rooms that went unused.

It was small and cozy, and it might not have been mine, but after only a week, that cabin felt far more like home than the giant house in Georgia ever had.

Thananywhereever had.

The world suddenly feltright, but I still couldn’t stop the tears that flowed down my cheeks. I’d never been a crier. Whatever dam had held them in was apparently blown to rubble because everything—all the pent-up emotions—came rushing out in nonstop tears.

They came even harder when Deke asked, “What curse?”

I tried for silence.

“Aurora, I asked you a question.”

I set Victoria down and forced a yawn that was mixed with the stupid tears. “It’s been a long day.”

I expected sweet, tender, patient Deke to let me off the hook. After all, he’d offered to delay his reunion with his siblings until I was ready. Siblings he hadn’t seen incenturies. Siblings he’d missed fiercely but was still willing to put me first—something that filled me with equal parts warmth, shock, and guilt.

Compared to that, I figured a brief reprieve was nothing.

I figured wrong.

His large hand wrapped around the front of my neck, and he tilted my head so I was forced to meet his eyes. “What curse?”

“N-nothing,” I stammered through my shock.

And something else.

Something that chiseled away at the heartache, mixing with the other rushing emotions to leave me a jumbled mess.

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