Page 70 of The Midnight Order
I’m a bit too rough around the edges regarding things like that.
“We are. I need to show you something.”
“What? The hole in the porch? I know, I fell through the damned thing.” She scoffs.
“I know. I was watching.”
She gasps. “When are you not watching?”
“You? Never. I felt your disturbance when you rolled through the wards, like the drop in pressure before a hurricane hits land. The question is how anyone can look away from you. Those are the untrustworthy.”
Her mouth gapes open. “You’re very confusing.”
“Really? Why?” I feel like I’m an open book, more so than the others, so her words have curiosity racing through me.
“I thought you were the scariest one. I was worried about your portion of the test.”
“Mm, well, you should still be worried about my part, but not for the reasons you’d think.”
She quirks a brow but seems to denote the sad tone of my voice and doesn’t press further.
When we finally get to her aunt’s house, she stops dead in her tracks. “What the hell?”
The brand-new porch stands out starkly against the night. The moon casts over the new beams, bright with their disuse and sanded finish, causing them almost to glow.
“Who?”
“Jasper. Some was Asher, too.”
“They’ve been working on my house?”
“They have been. It’s already been tented, and the porch is fully done, other than staining. I’m going to stain it this weekend if the rain holds off. Corvin has been working on the wiring. He’s great with that kind of stuff.”
“Why?” she asks, turning and foregoing inspecting our craftsmanship.
“Because you’re ours. Well, we hope you will be. It started as Jasper’s way of giving you something back for the way he took you, and then Asher found out and started chipping in. Where Asher goes, Corvin goes.”
“And you?” she breathes, stepping into me, her chest pressing against mine.
Her steady heartbeat against my undead, off-balance races thrills through me like a stab of electricity.
“I’m simple. I’m obsessed with you. I don’t know why, but I am. Whatever makes you smile, I’ll do.”
“I don’t understand any of this. I can’t wrap my mind around any of you or what you are or this town…” She trails off, turning her eyes over the new porch again.
Trailing my lips over her ear, I whisper, “Don’t overthink it. Just let it be. See where it goes.”
“I’m afraid,” she whispers, turning her face and nuzzling her nose against mine.
I’m caught in the alluring pull of her, like she’s the moon and I’m the tide, at her mercy completely, wondering where she’ll pull me next.
“So am I,” I admit. “It doesn’t mean I won’t give this my everything.”
She reaches up, cupping my cheek as she leans her forehead against mine.
The world spins around us for a moment, and we justare.
It’s the most open and raw I’ve ever felt before, and while it’s scary as hell, it’s comforting to have someone who won’t take advantage of me because she has my devotion.
