Page 51 of Ghoul Me, Maybe
Because I already know.
I’m doing the only thing Icando to protect her.
I’m leaving before I kill her.
She findsme two nights later.
Down by the edge of the cliffs where the tide smashes itself stupid and the wind screams like it’s mourning something ancient. I don’t hear her until her boots crunch against the gravel behind me.
“Don’t you dare ignore me,” she snaps.
I keep my eyes on the waves. “Go home, Sienna.”
She steps in front of me, arms folded, hair whipping around her face like a storm goddess summoned just to piss me off.
“No,” she says. “Not until you say it.”
I lift an eyebrow. “Say what?”
“Why you’re cutting me out. Why you’re pulling this brooding ‘it’s for your own good’ cliché like it’s not theexactcrap I’d torch you for.”
“You don’t need me,” I say, voice low. “You never did.”
“Bullshit.”
I flinch. Sheneverswears unless she’s ready to draw blood.
“I needed you when the vault tried to drown me. I needed you when Grey tried to buy me off. I needed you when I found out my dad lied about every damn part of my life. Andyou were there.So don’t you dare stand here now, all self-righteous martyr and pretend like this is aboutme.”
“Itisabout you,” I snap. “Every minute I’m near you, you get pulled deeper. First the dreams. Then the relic. Now your car explodes and a man like Grey shows up in town? You think that’s coincidence?”
“YES,” she shouts. “I think life is messy and dangerous andyouare not the damn center of it.”
I take a step forward, eyes burning.
“You think I want this?” I hiss. “You think it’s easy watching you fall apart because I can’t let go?”
“Then don’t!” she yells.
Silence falls.
Her chest heaves. Her eyes are rimmed red, but she hasn’t cried. Not yet. That’s the worst part.
“Ichoseyou,” she says, voice cracking. “You don’t get to un-choose me like I’m some accessory you’re trying to return.”
I shake my head. “I’m not safe, Sienna.”
“You never were. And that’s why I love you.”
The words land like a knife.
I stagger back like they hit bone.
She exhales sharply, like she wasn’t supposed to say it out loud.
“Well,” she mutters. “There it is.”
“Sienna—”
