Page 54 of Haunting Phantom
“I can’t, Eve. Not after what you showed me.”
“What I showed you was a memory, Autumn. What he has with you… fuck… he never fucking had that with me.”The words fucking sting, much like the tears in my eyes.
“Please, you gotta forgive him. He loves you.”
That’s when everything in me crumbles, and if it weren’t for Damien standing right there next to me, I would’ve fallen through the floor and buried myself.
“I got you, Dollface. I won’t let you fall.”
“I can’t,” Autumn whispers. “I just can’t.”
She turns to flee, but Phantom’s already on his feet, grasping her hand until she pauses mid-step, lip trembling.
“Can we talk?” he asks, hoping for something I’m not sure she can give.
She blinks, shooting a look at Amber, who only smiles encouragingly. “We can wait a few minutes. It’s okay.”
Autumn reluctantly allows Phantom to take her hand, leading her toward his bedroom.
Trying to be a good ghost, I stay where I am, but the second they turn the corner, I’m flung in their direction, our cable still tethered and tied.
She stops a few inches from his bed and frowns. “What do you want, Phantom?”
“Stop being nervous, you dummy. Just tell her what she needs to hear.”
Autumn smirks just a little. She heard me loud and clear, but she’s waiting for him to speak.
“I want you,” he whispers, his eyes slowly lifting to meet hers. “I know it sounds crazy, but in this short amount of time that I’ve met you, I’ve grown very fond of you. Too fond. And it’s made me realize that everything I had in the past, what I thought was real even though it was chaotic and toxic, was nothing compared to what you and I have with each other.”
She hugs herself as he takes a step forward.
“That first time I kissed you, I felt it in my bones.” He moves close enough to feather his fingers in her curls. “And the first time I saw your face, I melted like soft chocolate over an open flame. There’s something about you, Autumn, that I can’t run away from. Something raw and real. It’s like nothing I’ve ever felt before, and as much as it scares me to say it out loud, I don’t want to fucking lose it or you.”
She smiles, but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “I feel it too. But that night, you scared me, Blake. Who you were with her…”
“Was unhealthy. It should’ve never leeched through to you. I already told her how much I hate her for it, but I know she’s still here—still hanging on.”
Autumn nods. “She is. But she’s keeping her distance.”
“Good, the more distance she gives me. The better.”
Another painful word. Another invisible tear he can’t see. The tether is unraveling, and the closer he gets to her, the further he gets away from me.
“She’s breaking apart right now,” Autumn whispers. “She can feel you detaching from her.”
Blake sighs. “I was detaching from her long before you ever came around, Autumn, she was just too stubborn to see it.”
He’s right. I was too stubborn to see it. But I see it now, through the frayed edges of a string that barely keeps us together.
“She needs to let me go,” he breathes. “So she can move on. Sowecan move on.”
He kisses her lips, and she melts against him, her little angel wings crinkling as he pulls her close.
“I’ll do anything to prove how much you mean to me, Autumn. Even help you get rid of Eve.”
A sob clogs my throat, the world spinning around me until I feel off kilter and disoriented.
“She has to want to leave on her own, Blake. Forcing her out will only cause her to spiral again.”
