Page 64 of Drag You Down
I should invite her back home.
Why am I even hesitating?
“Do you believe in God?” I blurt out.
The woman gives me a crooked smile. “God? I mean, if he exists, he’s getting off on my suffering, so fuck him.”
The words make me physically recoil. “God has a plan for all of us,” I say, my cheeks flushing hot. I start to speak again, but her smile has vanished. “Never mind. Thank you for letting me use your phone, and for the offer. I… I’ll find my way home.”
Somehow.
“Sure. Word of advice? Look less lost while you’re walking the streets. If you don’t, you’ll attract the kinds of strangers who will do cavity searches looking for spare change.” She waves and walks off.
I have no idea what she means.
I don’t think I want to know.
I look bleakly out over my surroundings. I don’t know what to do.
God will provide.
He has to.
“Help me,” I whisper, and I should be praying to God, but I know.
I’m praying to Gabriel.
CHAPTER 14
GABRIEL
It’s light outside when Ichabod wakes me with his loud purring directly in front of my face, kneading my chest with his paws.
That’s his way of waking me up and demanding food. I groan and roll away from him?—
And immediately notice the problem.
There’s nobody else in the bed with me. I sit up and look at the spot Levi had been in last night.
Completely empty. A glance around the room reveals that his clothes are gone too.
“Levi?” I call out. “Little lamb?”
No response.
Maybe he got dressed and is sitting with coffee in the living room.
Except there’s no smell of coffee, and when I go out there, still completely naked, I’m met with an empty living room.
I stand, staring, completely dumbfounded.
He’d agreed to stay. He’d said that, right? He wanted me, he wanted what I offered him. He wanted me to take care of him.
No, heneedsme to take care of him.
And here’s more proof. A rational person wouldn’t have left in the middle of the night, especially not when the alternative to this luxury is a shitty apartment in a rundown part of the city.
Ichabod rubs his head against my feet, reminding me that he still needs to be fed.
