Page 97 of Not Today, Satan
This isn’t the afterlife Nate I’ve known. He’s alive again here on Earth.
I have so many questions, but then Nate parts my lips with his tongue and I forget everything but the taste of him. The pier falls away, the ocean breeze overtaken by his hands tangled in my hair, the scent of fish restaurants and churro carts lost amongst his sun-kissed musk, the laughter of children replaced by his happy sighs into my mouth.
“But how?” I ask when we finally break apart, breathless. I trace his face with my fingertip, making sure he’s real. “Not that I’m not glad you’re back, but how did you get here?”
“It’s the damnedest thing. Pun intended.” He pulls me closer, and I lean my head on his chest, the steady beat of his heart competing against the slapping of the waves. “One minute, I was in your mom’s house, and the next, I was back in Lot Thirteen. That friend of yours, Ferret, was in front of me, insisting you never loved me, while pummeling me with his fists and whatever else he could get his hands on.”
My stomach drops, and my veins heat. I curl my fingers into fists against the fire that begs to break free. If I ever see Ferus again, I’m going to send a ball of flame through whatever he has in place of a heart. “Ferus is not my friend.”
“I know. He tried to give me some BS story about how the two of you are supposed to be married, but evenIknow the guy’s full of hot air.”
I tighten my grip around him. “I’d never marry someone so awful. I’m sorry.”
Nate kisses the top of my head. “Not your fault. Anyway, one minute Flatulence was stabbing me with a pitchfork, and the next, I was in a hospital bed attached to a bunch of machines.”
“What?” I lean back and look up at him, eyebrows raised.
“Yeah, it was weird. And the nurses were freaking out and asking me what I’d done with Alexander. I told them the only Alexander I knew was my foster brother, and I haven’t seen him in, like, a year. I left out the bit that it’s because I was off taking a nice, toasty vacation in Hell.
“While they were distracted, I grabbed the charts beside my bed and bolted. I didn’t even change out of the gown. You get some weird looks in the back of the West Hollywood bus with your butt hanging out, but people also leave you alone. I headed right for your mom’s place. All I could think of was seeing you again.”
I release him and lean against the rail, gazing back out at the water. “I suppose she told you we fought.” I blink as tears fill my eyes and prick my throat. “I hurt her and scared her so much she told me to leave. Not that I blame her.”
“She said you had a fight, yes.” He wraps an arm around my waist. “But she seemed more scaredforyou than of you. She was frantic because you took the car. She was worried you’d get into an accident or, worse, leave before she could talk to you.”
I swallow and scrape my fingernail over the wooden railing. I’d jumped in her car so fast that it hadn’t occurred to me she’d be concerned. After all, when I was literally running for my life in Hell, it was my other parent doing the chasing. And it wasn’t out of worry for me, but rather fear I wouldn’t be around to help him.
“Luckily, her car has anti-theft GPS,” Nate continues. “So we tracked you down on her phone and hopped in an Uber to come find you—after she loaned me some clothes, of course. Your poor mother has seen enough of my ass to last both of our lifetimes.”
I nudge him with my elbow. “I wondered about the pink sweatpants and tight T-shirt.”
“Hey now, I really pull this off.” He grins. “Besides, you should talk. I thought finding you here would be impossible, but all I had to look for was the girl all in black in the middle of a heat wave.”
“I left in kind of a hurry.” I peel the bodice of my dress from my damp skin and grimace. “And I didn’t plan to end up at the beach. Something called me here.”
“I warned you the ocean will do that.”
“You weren’t wrong.” The ring’s still in my palm, and I squeeze it, the blue blood already dried on my skin. “Was Mom really not mad at me?”
“You can talk to her yourself. She’s in the parking lot waiting for you. She didn’t want to get in the way of our reunion.”
“Reunion.” I spin against the rail to face him and smile. “I love the sound of that.”
“Me, too.” He kisses me again, softer this time. “I can’t believe I made it back here. Again. Your mom thinks I somehow earned my way back to life, but she said she’s never seen it happen and wasn’t sure how I did it.”
I chew on my lower lip. “I think I know how, but you aren’t going to like it.”
He stares over my head, his gaze on the boat I’d studied earlier. “Alex died in the hospital and took my place in Lot Thirteen. I kinda figured it out myself on my super-awkward bus ride. I sort of remember you telling me he killed Gabe and that you saved him from a fire before I died—you know, the second time.”
“You heard that?” My eyes widen. “I wasn’t sure you could hear me.”
“I did.” He kisses my forehead. “And you were right. I would never have wanted you to take Alex’s life so I could have mine. The girl I fell in love with could never kill someone, even when they deserve it.”
My head snaps up, my heart thudding under my rib cage.
I’m sorry. What?
“Fell in love with?”
