Page 33 of Cost of Courting

Should I have a complex from it?

“We all lived in this neighbourhood. Selene was a couple of years younger and used to follow us around everywhere,” I say fondly. “She was ours.”

“She was one of us,” Kingston says softly.

Shade bounces up on the bed and sniffs her face. His enormous eyes stare at me, and then he turns very slowly and carefully in a circle and lays down, purring like the little wannabe freight train he is.

“Yeah. Selene was special. She was made for great things,” Kingston says and strokes her hair from her face.

“I don’t understand why she’s still here,” Edric growls.

“You guys love her,” Bailey whispers. He sounds appalled, and I immediately turn cold eyes on him. He’s gotten even closer to the door, like he’s going to run at any moment.

Of course, we love her. We figured it out five minutes after we left, but, by then, it was too late.

I don’t say anything, though, I just stare down at her bruised and broken form.

“I’m going to kill whoever did this to her,” I promise.

“I’m going to find out now,” Kingston says and vanishes out of the house.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watch Bailey turn, following Kingston’s path until he’s gone.

“So, how did you meet her?” Edric asks in a soft and unthreatening tone.

It seems to work, Bailey answers without thinking.

“At her job. It was just chance.”

“People say there’s no such thing as chance.”

“What do you say?”

Edric looks down at her. “I say if you were there, and she was, then it was probably one of those cosmic forces people talk about. It was meant to be.”

“She’s not mine.”

“She’s not ours either,” I reply.

But that’s not true, and it’s never been true. She’s been ours since the first time she appeared in that oversized jumper with an ice block dripping down her fingers. I think she was six. I remember looking at her and smiling. Her eyes had gotten so big. She had marched up to Kingston, who was holding a baseball bat, and smiled. All gap-toothed and black messy hair that looked like it hadn’t seen a comb in a year.

I’d been entranced.

We all had.

Not that it was romantic, it was just…she was ours.

“But she’s always been ours,” I murmur. “We just refused to see it until it was too late. I’m not walking away again.”

Bailey shifts uncomfortably. “I can’t be around you people. You destabilise everything.”

I peer up at him. “What are you scared of?”

Bailey’s face shutters, closing off. “I’m not scared.”

“Okay,” Edric says, clearly not believing him. “You’re like your sister. A switch. It’s nothing to be ashamed of-”

Edric barely gets the words out before Bailey has him up against a wall, his forearm pressed against his throat. “Shut the hell up.”

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