Page 15 of Demons In My Head: Exposing the Exiled
Jasper's soft lips cut off my laughter. I felt the warmth of his breath as he pulled me closer, our bodies melding into one another with an urgency that couldn't be denied. His hands were everywhere, rough and gentle at the same time, and I reveled in the feel of him against me.
It was like he was trying to convey something to me through this kiss, something deeper than words. And I wanted to know what it was, to understand what was really going on with him.
He pulled away, his forehead resting against mine. "I'm sorry," he whispered.
"For what?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
"For being such a mess lately. For not being there for you like I should be."
I shook my head, cupping his face in my hands. "It's okay. We're here now."
Jasper's handsome face went from radiating pure happiness to grimacing with pain in an instant. He ceased all physical contact with me immediately and hopped to his feet. Confused, I also stood.
"I-I have to go." He jumped down from the boulder without so much as a glance back.
"What the fuck? What do you mean you have to go?" I demanded, storming after him.
"I'll see you tomorrow at breakfast."
"Jasper!" I bellowed. I'd never raised my voice at him before, and I saw the way his wings rippled, whether with anger at mytone, or something else, I didn't know... and I no longer held hope that he'd tell me the truth.
Slowly, he turned to face me. "Please just trust me... and don't tell anyone about us. Not yet."
"Why can't you talk to me?!" My spine rolled as hurt morphed into anger.
He stared at me for a long moment. I could've sworn I saw unshed tears shining in his eyes, but it could've been the reflection of the moonlight. Unfortunately, I didn't get a second look because he sighed deeply, and before I knew what was happening, he vanished from my sight.
"Are you coming?"
I blinked rapidly as my heart raced in my chest. My vision blurred as the moonlit woods faded from sight, and Ashland's face came into view.
I coughed to break the silence. "Yeah, just thought I saw something..."
Ash shifted his gaze around us. "This place does have a knack for showing us things we really don't want to see."
With one last glance over my shoulder, I followed Ashland through the doorway, eager to put the past where it belonged.
Behind me.
Chapter four
Jasper
Iknew there was something about Palmer from the moment I first saw her. I spotted her stomping her way over to Haunt, and I couldn't take my eyes off her.
As a ghost, it was very easy for things to get stagnant. There were only so many times I could jump off building tops and plummet to the ground. At some point over the years, I started wishing that my spectral body would actually explode on contact with the concrete instead of falling through into the fucking sewers underground.
But then Palmer arrived. She brought with her a kind of energy I had imagined I hadn't experienced since before my death. She ignited something inside me—a spark of life, a flicker of hope that I could actually feel something again. It was almost as if she had the power to reignite my spirit, to make me feel alive again.
Palmer's touch brought warmth and color back into my world, which had been cold and gray for so long. With each touch from her hands, I felt stronger and more connected to her thananyone, at least from what I could remember from my previous life, which, admittedly, wasn't much.
After our first connection, bits and pieces of the past flickered to life in my mind. I'd followed The Exiled from the beginning, but I never really understood why. I knew I was somehow connected to them and felt this indescribable obsession with watching over them. What else was I going to do with all of my time? Plus, they wereveryentertaining.
What I didn’t understand was how they never discussed their lives prior to being exiled. It was infuriating at times. Every single time one of them would almost slip, one of the others was there to shut down the conversation immediately. Whatever happened in their past must've been incredibly painful and traumatic if they couldn't even bring themselves to talk about it with each other.
So naturally, when I was with her in that stairwell at Haunt and Rhodes showed up, I ghosted myself up a few flights of stairs and listened to their conversation. I finally,finally,knew who I was before. I was Felix and Talon's brother! I had a family, and I’d been with them this entire time. It was a good thing spirits didn't need to breathe because that revelation would've stolen the very air from my lungs.
Rhodes' reaction to the mention of my name was the confusing part. The anger, the absolute rage... it didn't make any sense. After watching the man for so long, I knew he could be a dick, but he rarely let his emotions out for others to see, preferring instead to hide them.
