Page 31 of Boyfriend From Hell
“Felix?” I stared, then looked to Raios, “What is this?”
“Hush up and watch,” he commanded, his back still to me.
I shot him a dirty look and sank back into my seat; eyes fixed on the mirror. Felix turned abruptly, as if caught by surprise. But instead of the typical panicked look he wore when something startled him, his face broke out into a wide smile that made my heart ache. I knew that smile—he used to give me that smile every time he saw me, back when we first startedseeing each other. Blond hair came into view, and my mouth went dry.
“What…wait.” My voice came out breathy and raw.
I wanted to look away, but my eyes wouldn’t cooperate, they were pinned to the shit show unfolding before me. I knew that hair. Felix dropped his towel to the floor and opened his arms to the blond.
No. No no no!She slithered into his arms, wrapping hers around his neck to pull him close. My eyes started to burn.
Gracie.
Gracie and Felix?! Is Graciesleepingwith Felix?! My insides flipped as my mouth began watering and my stomach threatened to empty its contents onto the floor.
“This—this isn’t real,” I stammered out. I don’t know who I was trying to convince. “This—this you’re doing this. That isn’t real,thatisn’t real.”
My voice shook, well actually, my whole body was vibrating now—he had to be doing this, had to be faking all of it. Regardless, I wouldn’t sit and watch this, Icouldn’t.
“No, Deer. I may be able to read your mind and make you wetter than earth’s seas, but I can’t just conjure shit out of thin air likethat. Thatisyour cohort and your faux-mate defiling your bond. Would you like to see the first time they consummated their deceit and betrayal of you?” Raios asked over his shoulder, still refusing to face me, or even look at me while he spoke. “Or have you had enough?”
From the corner of my eye the images in the mirror began to swirl and shift, disappearing.
“No! No. This is wrong, you’re messed up,” I yelled at him—at the mirror.
Tears burned my eyes and I gripped my thighs so hard the skin stung. My breathing began to come in short bursts, the wound I had forgotten about for a small while, ripped open.
“Stop muddling your skin with bruises!” Raios was suddenly at my side gripping my wrists. “Enough! You knew deep down—when you made your wish—he was not,is not,capable of loving you, let alone ever doing right by your name!”
I fought his grip, tears now pouring from my eyes.
“I’ve been taking your nightmares for months, all the nightmares of him leaving you. Leaving nothing but the feeling of raw abandonment.Itook them for you! Do you think that was how I wanted to spend my holiday away from Hell? Falling for some neighboring mortal whose dreams would have sent her into a spiraling depression? No, not really. But I did it anyway. For you.”
There was so much anger in his voice—so much that his defense of me started to feel… strange. Disorienting. He fell to his knees beside me, and I realized I was crying. I didn’t know when the tears started, but they were like a current of their own.
“Deer,” Raios whispered. “I heard you long before that. I listened to you from the deepest pits of Hell—your desperation, sorrow, every shattered birthday wish, lonely night. I listened for years. Listening to your heartache, it fractured something in me, something I never knew existed.”
He pressed his forehead against my shoulder.
“Do you know how long I waited to find the right time to see you? It wasn’t just happenstance that I chose Portland, Deer. Years. I spent years watching you decay from neglected love.”
I looked at the devil before me and shook my head. The flame in his eyes died down and was replaced by a pain that seemed to match my own. I could hardly process anything he was saying, the only thing I could see, and hear, was Gracie and Felix.
“Yes, sweet one.”
His words were too much—all of this was too much.
I turned my head to stare at the waves of black hair that cascaded over his forehead, his own tears began slipping onto my lap. He turned to look up at me with sorrow-laden eyes.
“I feel what you feel—the anger, fear, sadness, your frustrations. All of it, through our bond, through your thoughts,” he whispered to me.
I wanted to hate him. I wanted to believe that what I had seen in that mirror was a lie. But part of me knew it was the truth.
Gracie had always gotten everything she wanted with no repercussions—that was crystal clear now. She didn’t even seem to care that I had gone missing. She was probably grateful...
“I could kill them,” he suggested softly, as he stood and grabbed my arm gingerly. “I could end them, for you.”
Well, that’s a bit too far. I may hate them right now, Gracie more so than Felix, but I didn’t want themdead. Karma would eventually catch up with them both.
