Page 253 of Shadowman
“Nothing. Baby, I’m just saying… You don’t have to hold it all inside.” I rub his shoulders.
“Ido, though,” he says, ton softly forlorn. He sounds broken, and Ihateit.“I lost my journal. My book? It’s just fuckinggone. Everything is… gone.”
I’m not…
“You can open up to me… If you want,” I murmur, trying not to sound too eager. Leo is making a face. “OrI could get you a new journal. So you can continue writing, if you’d like…”
“Great. I’ll just start over,” he huffs.
“Byron, the point is that those memories are yourtruths, and they’re still a part of you. They’re not gone…You’renot gone, baby. You’re still here… And so am I.”
Finally, he rolls over, propping up on his elbows. His dark eyes take me in, penetrating me deep. It’s overwhelming… I haven’t a clue what he’s seeing when he looks at me like that.
“Are you?” He whispers. A barely audible accusation.
I can do nothing more than stare back at him, frozen to stone under that pretty bronze gaze.
Byron exhales, shaking his head. He looks disappointed.
Bollocks. I hate that bloody look.
He scrambles off the couch and shuffles toward the loo. My hand actually lifts, reaching after him.
“He’ll get over it,”Leo mutters.
“I… have to tell him,” I mumble weakly. “Ineedto tell him about everything. He deserves that much, especially now.” I peer at Leo, who doesn’t look pleased. “He needs to know thatI’mhere… That he has all of me.”
“So you’re planning to tell him every last bit, then?”he counters.“Even the part about you knowing that his friend and former fling was in the East, being tortured…”
My jaw strains in frustration. He has a point, as usual, and it’s quite annoying.
Byron’s friends are dead, and he’s feeling immense guilt because of their fight—because he’ll never get to make amends. He will mostdefinitelybe upset if he finds out I lied; that I knew Ren was in the East all along. I’m sure he’d feel that, had he known, he could have changed things.
He might be right.
“Tip of the iceberg, my friend,”Leo mutters.
Ignoring him, I stalk out of the room, following my sweet, sad fury, in hopes that maybe I can heal him…If even just temporarily.
The thing is, despite his state of depression, Byron still needs me. I’m sure he doesn’t want to, but it’s the truth. And because of that, we can’t keep apart.
In the shower, we entwine, absorbing one another’s anguish and sorrow. It sinks into our wet flesh, and we use it to fuel the desire. He fucks me aggressively from behind, sealing my chestto the shower wall while he growls and purrs and cries onto the nape of my neck. We both reach fast, crippling orgasms, but neither of us is trulysettledwhen we’re done.
Out of the shower, Byron gets dressed while I sneak off into the bedroom we’re no longer using. Apparently, it belonged to Joy, Velle and Rook, and after their interaction in the prison, Byron returned vehemently against sleeping in there again.
Still, I have something stashed in the closet that I need to check on…
Reaching into the back, I locate the cellphone, hidden between some clothes. I found it outside after the tower fell. I was heading toward the prison, under the guise of bringing Dr. Love to Manuel Blanco, but really, I was hypnotized. Witnessing such destruction had lured me in, like a call to my inner chaos.
I couldn’t help myself…
But before we got there, Kent sprung out of nowhere, urging us back to the mansion. We turned back, much to my dismay. And as we passed a small cabin made of stone, which I’ve heard used to be an armory, I saw it. Something shiny peeking out from beneath the wet leaves. When no one was looking, I scooped it up and tucked it away inside my pants.
Since then, I’ve attempted to power it on several times to no avail. The device is clearly water-logged, and I have no bag of rice to stick it in. I’m hoping it’ll eventually dry out enough to power on. Not that I know what I would do with a cellphone, but I imagine it belongs to someone…Maybe it could be of use.
Holding down the power button, I pray for light. But I get nothing but a black screen.
Bollocks.
