Page 186 of Poison Aches

“No.” I don’t want to do this right now, but since we’re here, might as well. “It’s because I know the type of person you are.”

And that’s the kind that is stubborn as fuck.

She’s the type that when she makes up her mind to do something, she’ll do it no matter what.

It wouldn’t bother me at all if she were actually smart enough to survive her own stubbornness, but she simply isn’t.

She’s careless, reckless, has no sense of awareness to danger, and she’s just downright pathetic.

Wearing a bra wasn’t just about fitting in with the girls at her school or becoming a teenager, it’s also a goal she wanted to accomplish.

Which means the rest of the stuff she wrote down in her diary, she’ll move Heaven and earth to achieve.

I pull her back to me. “Arms up.”

“W-what?”

“You’re so pathetic and weak that I know you can’t withstand getting a cold, so freaking arms up, Angel.”

Automatically, she raises her arms and I dress her in my hoodie. It practically swallows her whole, which is good because the hood covers her hair well.

Feeling satisfied with the look of her in my clothes, I really take her in.

But more than that, obviously something’s going on here, so I say the first thing that rolls off my tongue.

“What’s going on, Angel? Did something happen at home?”

She looks up at me then, and immediately, fresh tears well up in her eyes.

Her bottom lip starts quivering even more but it’s the way she clenches her fists, blood dripping to the ground, that fucks me up.

My knees weaken as I see the pain in her eyes.

“I swear to God, if you don’t start talking?—”

“You need to promise me something,” she rushes to say, cutting me off as she grabs my hand. “Please.”

I stare into her large honey brown doe eyes and goosebumps appear on my arms and at the back of my neck.

The look in her eyes is unreal…like gentle waves flowing on the seashore…crashing and retreating, moving to the rhythm of my own heartbeat.

As I stare, I suddenly feel unsteady.

Is there an earthquake? Why is the ground shaking beneath me?

“Emmett?”

“No,” I say, discreetly shaking my head to get some sense back.

“No?” She reels back.

“Do you think I’d ever blindly enter a contract with unknown conditions? How fucking dumb do you think I am?”

Besides, I know that look in her eyes.

She’s about to disappear on me… like my mother.

“Okay, then let’s name the conditions!” she rushes to say.

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