Page 187 of Poison Aches

“What?”

“A contract with conditions we both know, let’s do it now! Our blood has already mixed anyway, that’s a vow already,”she says in a low, hoarse voice that somehow carries above the pelting rain.

We both look down at our joined hands and notice that somewhere along this conversation, our fingers interlocked and sure enough, her blood and mine have been mixed.

“Exclusive!” I blurt out before I can stop myself.

“What?” She looks up at me quizzically, her huge brown eyes sucking me in like a freaking Hoover.

The fuck is she doing to me?

“You don’t know what exclusive means?” I mock, and she sucks in a sharp breath.

“I do!”

“Then you should know that this is nonnegotiable. One of the conditions of our contract is that it’ll be exclusive,” I mutter, feeling overly annoyed, in pain, and ready to set this world ablaze for some reason.

Her hand in mine flexes.

“So it’s just between you and me? No one else?”

I jerk my head in a nod. “Yes, but not just that.” I step even closer to her, as if compelled by something… sinister.

“When we do this, it means there’s no going back. No revoking it. No outside intervention. No one steps in. Not the law or any type of saving grace. When I want you to do something, you can never run from it.”

She looks up at me with wide eyes, looking like a drenched racoon but still captivating. “Then it means we’d own each other…”

Look at that. She’s slightly smart, this girl, but she’s a bit mistaken too.

I can’t be owned.

“Yes,” I mutter anyway. “Are you going to fucking back down? I see the fear in your eyes.”

She blinks like a freaking cartoon character, then steps closer to me. We’re both drenched already but neither of us cares.

“I’m not backing down. I agree to that, so the second?—”

“The duration, specific terms, and any and all directives of the contract will be up to me,” I say, cutting her off.

“Wait, what? Why?”

“Do I need to spell it out for you?” I deadpan. After all, she’s one of the few people that knows.

“Because you can die at any second?” she mutters, biting her lip as fresh tears well up in her eyes. “Your heart is beating just fine.”

Actually, something is wrong, but I don’t say that.

“Then forget it.”

“Wait, okay, fine!” she rushes. “But I also need a say in that as well.”

Growing impatient and lightheaded, I agree. “What would you like then?”

“You want the answer right now?”

“You’re the one who proposed this. Tell me.”

She looks around as if someone is chasing her and she needs to run. “Umm, my terms will be determined later, and you cannot disagree to them when that time comes.”

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