Page 279 of Shadowman
I blink at him, agreeing, but not wanting to.
“I should, um… go down to the tombs,” Trevel croaks to me. I turn to face him. “Check on Lem and the bodies.”
I nod, eyes settling on his violet angst. Dash is scampering around the garden in my peripheral, searching for God knows what. Maybe a way out or a place to hide.
With some privacy and not enough confidence, I lift my twitchy fingers, running them up Trevel’s chest. It’s baffling how just touching him seems to calm me in some deep place I didn’t know I could access.
I care about him. I don’t want to leave him. And I don’t want him to feel like Iwouldleave him, even more now, knowing all the heartache he’s had to endure in his twenty-three years of life.
He’s… mine. And I think I might be his.
I open my mouth, maybe to tell him these things. But it dries up when I notice how twitchy he’s being. Gaze flinging left and right, like he’s having trouble making eye contact. There’s an air about him that feels off, and it’s interfering with my attempt at affection.
“Are you alright?” I ask softly, brushing his hair away from his eyes. He flinches at my touch, and I frown.
“Uh… yes.” His lashes flutter, Adam’s apple bobbing. “Mhm.”
My face dips, trying to catch his flitting gaze with mine. “You sure?”
His heart is racing beneath my palm. I glance around.
“Are you… seeing him?Leo…?”
His eyes jump to mine, and I expect him to get defensive, like he thinks I’m calling himcrazyagain. But instead, he just stares, lips parted and a deep crease of distress between his brows.
“Baby, you know I don’t care about that, right?” I tell him honestly, keeping my voice down. “Ilovethat you told me everything. You finally put all of your cards on the table, and it makes me feel closer to you. That’s all I wanted…”
Trevel swallows visibly hard again, expression taking on even more strain. “Fucking hell…” he whispers, digging fingers into his eyes.
“Trevel, what’s wrong?” I ask once more, pleading for him to confide in me, not because I need it, but because I thinkhedoes.
He needs to just fuckingtell mewhat’s going on inside him. It’s the only way we can be real.
No secrets. No shadows.
“I… I…” he stammers. I can see it; mere inches from freeing itself on his sweet tongue. But he shakes it away and mumbles, “I’ve got to go check on Lemuel. He m-might be able to… help.”
The next thing I know, he’s stumbling away while I standalonein the garden of shadows, reaching out for his light.
“The Shadowman”
It was the night of the storm.
Well,thestorm isn’t really accurate, since it’d been storming for weeks already. Butthat onewas the biggest one.
The loudest thunder…
The longest darkness.
The power had gone out while we were in the caf having dinner, so Rook was herding us back to our cells. But Dash stopped him.
Dash is the new guy.Inmate 101. He showed up the day they took O’Malley, and by all accounts, sort of just slid right into my cellmate’s spot.
But it’s not his fault. He got tossed in here without a choice, just like the rest of us—after killing Governor Russo’s niece during a bank robbery gone wrong.
Carly Klatyon… Michelangelo’s cousin.
I wonder if he’s grieving the loss. I wonder if he too hates Dascha Reznikov…
