Page 58 of Come Back To Me
“What things?”
“He said he saw you kissing and leaving the breakroom with one of the front clerks multiple times. He said you were cheating on me. I was so broken over it and lost . . . that . . . that I turned to the wrong person. I needed a friend, but he wanted to be more. I almost let him be more. Only because of the pain I felt when I thought of the possibility of him being right.”
“That’s crazy. What clerk? I hardly spoke to anyone at work. I was always so busy. Why would I risk so much, doing what I did to bring you back, if I was lusting after some clerk?”
“I don’t know. It’s all coming back to me now. I didn’t want him like that. Even thinking you might have done those things, I was going to look past it. I still wanted you. I want you now.”
“I’m right here.” I feel for him in the dark and he pulls me into him, smelling of copper.
“I know. You’re here and he’s gone.” I toss down his jacket and turn my light onto the guy lying in his own blood and ripped flesh.
He’s wearing a blue outfit and his eyes are brown. It’s not Leo. It was never Leo. I drop to the floor and knee walk closer, my face looming over his. “You killed my boss.”
“I had to. Not only for your peace of mind, but because he saw me take my mask off while I was outside following you.”
“How many more times will you have to?”
“I don’t know. But Arkansas is gone, and all the memories of the pain he’s caused will be too.”
“You’re not at all sad about it?” I stretch my neck.
“No.”
“What do you feel, then?”
He cups my face, yanking it to his. “You. Just you.”
I lean my forehead to his, and after making sure I have no blood on me, I return to the party while Gareth disposes of most of the body before shoving the rest in a bag and cleaning up the shed.
Leo gives me a questioning look when I first enter the house, and his expression is more curious when I hug him with all my might.
“Someone is very loving after drinking too much.”
“Yeah.” I hold him tighter and he laughs, shoving me off him. We dance to Lady Gaga and Mariah Carey. Glen watches us from afar, milking his drink while Gareth watches me from a place I can’t see.
Eighteen
Gareth
Three months later
I walk up from the basement and wash my face in the bathroom, reaching for my toothbrush so Riley doesn’t taste my last meal on my mouth. I stopped being super careless when it came to finding my food, though he wasn’t the only one helping me. We came clean to Leo, who works in a morgue. I ate the people who were set to be cremated, and they were after I was done enjoying all the parts I liked.
His freak-out only lasted two days before he showed up at our house wanting to understand more. Riley told him about the ritual, and then he put all the rest together after he was told where the spell book came from.
“I took you to that shop. Does that make me responsible?”
Riley told him no, of course, but Leo actually wanted to take credit for me coming back to life and making his best friend smile again. Yeah, Leo wasn’t any more normal than we were, and I think that’s why Riley didn’t blink too much when Ibrought up the idea of us telling him. It all worked out, and our relationship has too.
“Ready to take me somewhere special tonight?” Riley spins around in his white slacks and silky black top.
“I am. How far are we driving out this time?”
“Only an hour.” He lifts himself onto his tiptoes to kiss me. “No one knows us out there. Or at least I hope they don’t.”
I laugh. “Aren’t we supposed to stop being so careless?”
“Only most of the time.” His lips turn up a little. “You look really good in those new jeans I got you.”
