Page 63 of Feed Your Fiends

“Then…if we’re fated to be together, I don’t want any more secrets between us.”

Fated?Fated… I love the way that sounds.

“I would’ve told you, but you wouldn’t speak to me. Look at me. Spit on me. Whoever found those shoes is going to hurt far more than any wound they’ve inflicted on you, and I know they were excruciating.”

She nods slowly, her eyes finding mine. “I want you to find them.”

That takes me by surprise. “You do?”

“I said you were from the underworld. I said you were a demon, a monster, and I need a monster to do what I can’t.”

She’s too sweet when I sink my tongue into her mouth for another kiss. What have I done to deserve her? What will I do to keep her?

Anything.

“I think I’m ready to listen now,” she says when we break. “If I give you this chance…do you promise not to hide anything from me from now on?”

I swallow hard. A chance or not, I’d break her heart open and force myself back in, but would she let me in willingly?

“Why? What changed since last night?”

She adverts her eyes suddenly lost in thought. I squeeze her ass tighter, pulling her flusher against me.

“Dove, what happened in that house with Jaime and Jarett? She always chose Jarett. Why was last night so different?”

“Because…this time, she chose him even though he’s utterly worthless to her now.”

“What do you mean?”

She chuckles, but there’s no humour, just a hollow emptiness. “Before I could make an excuse, even if it was lame. Like, she wants him around to help with bills even if he only gives her a hundred this month. Or I’d think, maybe she’s dick-whipped and so utterly lonely that she would rather have the devil she knows versus the one she doesn’t. But Jarett can’t work now, or fuck.” Her eyes flash to mine. “And if he can, it’d be like…she was taking advantage of him because I don’t think he has any concept of self any more.”

I stroke her hair back from her cheek.

“Why do you think that?”

“I don’t know. I was only there for a few minutes, but he wasn’t on a normal high. It wasn’t like he was actinglikean animal; I think he thinks heisan animal. The way he spoke, his fragmented thoughts…it’s like he’s brain-damaged, and I think Jaime likes it in some twisted way.”

“Because now Jarett can be her baby forever?” I ask, but of course, I already know. I’d already foreseen it, planned it.

She nods, her eyes growing wet. “She already had a baby, but she didn’t want her. Not like she wants him.”

“You finally saw it with your own two eyes.”

“I always knew it, but having her choose him outright cemented it for me. If Jarett had run out the front door that night, she would’ve chased after him. She knew what predators lurked in the dark. She knew you were lurking after what happened at the play, and she didn't even look to see if I made it down that dark street okay. Because her baby was babbling.”

“What was he saying?”

“Variations of my name, andisn’t that funny?”

“He’s lost his mind,” I say. I know I had.

“I finally get it. She won’t ever love me.” Her eyes flicker to the portrait, and the tears she’d been holding back finally brim over. “I’m sorry she’s gone. I hated her as a teacher, but you loved her as a mother, and not having a mother’s love isn’t something I’d wish on anyone. Not even someone I hated.”

“Do you hate me, dove?”

“I tell myself I do.”

“No more secrets, remember?” I whisper. “Not even to yourself.”

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