Page 4 of Endless Anger
The stupid, selfish part of me wishes she’d direct it my way, but she’s always favored animals over humans.
Everything over me.
“Foxe got you pretty good, huh?”
I touch my fingers to the outside of my eye, which is still tender and hot. “Whatever. You should see him.”
“Is that supposed to impress me, pretty boy?”
My heart skips a silent beat, but I pretend not to notice.
Rolling my eyes, I close the manga and toss it down the bed where Keats is. He barely flinches.
“Why would I be trying to impress you,pup?” I ask.
She hates that nickname, and I’ve never cared. It keeps distance between us. Not enough to freak her out but enough that I can somewhat breathe when she’s around.
When she sniffles, wiping her nose with her sleeve, I slide over in the bed, pulling back the comforter.
Without a word, she kicks off her slippers and joins me, stretching out on the edge of the mattress.
My gaze darts around the room. There’s a cobweb in one ceiling corner that I’ll tell our housekeeper, Marcelline, about tomorrow. Everything else is in its regular boring place—all my sketchbooks andthe trays with my charcoal, ink pens, and pencils sit neatly on my desk, while the floating shelves above it house my manga collection and a few of the classics I stole from the library downstairs.
The only person who ever disturbs any of my drawings or books is in my bed, sulking. I don’t mind that she makes the room chaotic just by existing.
“You left,” she says finally.
I roll over on my side, facing the wall away from her, and tuck my arm under my head. “Surprised you even noticed.”
“It was kind of a shitty thing to do, Ash. You loved Laurel too.”
Big, soft brown eyes and black fur appear in my vision, but I ignore the way my heart twists. This is the circle of life. Everyone and everything dies, no matter how hard you try to put it off.
No matter how good and pure something is, death is the one thing that will eventually touch it.
The sooner Lucy learns that, the better.
“Well, it’s not like he knows I wasn’t at the stupid ceremony,” I grumble.
“ButIknow.”
“You didn’t need me.”
“That’s not true. It’s never true.”
My fingers buzz with some unknown sensation. “You shouldn’t say never.”
She huffs, and the bed jostles as she rolls toward me. “Imeanit, you big dummy. You make everything easier to deal with.”
“Oh, so you want me around because I’m useful?”
“Why do you do that?” she snaps. “You’re putting words in my mouth.”
I roll back over, now facing her, but I’m not expecting her to be so close.
Her lips are mere inches away, and my stomach tenses, my chest growing tight. Sticky with something warm, something I don’t fully understand.
She’s glaring at me, her blue eyes hard as sapphires, but all I can focus on is the shape of her mouth.
