Page 55 of Signed, I'm Yours!
They look like quite the pair. Seojun is young and extravagant. Bob is grumpy and mundane. I wonder if that’s what I look like next to him. Mundane. But then again, wouldn’t anyonestanding next to this spitfire of a man? Even if he wasn’t wearing his huge pink fur coat?
“But honey!” I grind between my teeth. “You were so excited to be with me for this.”
He considers my words for a moment, then drags his feet back to my side with a scowl.
“Let’s do this, I guess,” he mutters.
I chuckle and slap his shoulder, pushing him inside the bodega. I immediately regret it.
There isn’t a surface that isn’t covered in blood. Splattered like someone grabbed a paint bucket and started throwing it around like it’s glitter.
“Oh my God.” He gags and grabs his mouth.
“Maybe…” I start, but maybe what? Maybe wait outside? He can’t. And I can’t not be here. I’ve got a job to do. “Maybe just stay close and keep your eyes shut.”
I offer him my arm, and he grabs it so fast that, for a minute, I think I’ve pulled a muscle.
We wade through the shelving units that make up the empty aisles of this abandoned bodega, and I go right to the epicenter in the back, where a headless woman lies on the floor, all limbs spread apart. Her chest and stomach are split open, the skin all over her body torn as if from the inside.
“Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God,” Seojun cries. “I’m gonna be sick.”
“Come here.” I step between him and the body and wrap him in my arms, blocking his view of the body.
To my surprise, he hugs me back, his head glued to my chest, and for a moment, I can’t move. I can’t even breathe. I can only stand there and feel the full effect of our physical contact shooting through my body, through every nook and cranny. Throughthatpart of me.
I’ve never felt any attraction or reaction to another man, but the sensation coursing through me is all too familiar and sweet.
“Are you guys okay?” a member of the forensics team asks, and it gives me all the urge and motivation to move.
“Let’s get out of here,” I whisper against the top of his head, practically kissing it, and drag him back out, making sure to shield his eyes and innocence.
“What happened?” Bob asks when we storm out. Seojun finds the nearest trash can and heaves over it for a moment, but nothing comes out.
He’s faring better than Bob does on the regular, but still…
“Ah. Gotcha,” Bob answers his own question. “I warned ya.”
Yeah. He did warn us. But it wasn’t like I had an option. I still don’t. Unless…
I take my phone out. I can unlock it and show Bob all my notes. I can type everything that’s happened and pass it on to him while Seojun is distracted and hope he can help me get out of this mess, but…
But I can’t. Whether it’s part of the enchantment or just my conscience, I can’t do that to Seojun.
He may fancy himself a supervillain, but he’s anything but. Supervillains do horrible things like what we’ve just seen insidethe bodega. That’s a supervillain. What Seojun is doing is child’s play in comparison. It’s pretend.
“Still think we’ll get that motherfucker?” Bob asks, staring at Seojun.
I take a deep breath, look around us, put my hands on my hips, and smile.
“Sure we are.” If only so I can prove to Seojun he’s no supervillain.
“That was horrible,”he says when we’re back in a cab on the way to his apartment.
“I’m sorry.”
He hugs himself in lieu of a comment and leans his head against the window, looking out at the blurred streets and clueless people. This whole picture is wrong. He should be snarky and cocky. He should be lying out of his behind and trying to get a rise out of me. But he isn’t doing any of those things. And I’m responsible for it.
“I should have called in sick. I should have known better.”
