Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 62637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
“Of the past. Your past. He wanted something from you.”
“He said he wanted my ears.” I feel dumb even saying it out loud; I’m shaking and trying not to burst into tears. “He said that, that hearing—”
“Shhh.” Horus holds me against his chest. “Let’s just go back to my place. I’ll try to figure it out for you.”
“Says the god.” I joke. I have to.
He laughs. “Yes, says the god of the sky. I mean, I do know things.”
“Can you know this one thing for me?” I look up into his blue eyes, still trembling over the encounter.
His breaths come faster, and his eyes hood; he lowers his mouth to mine and presses a gentle kiss against my lips. “My promise,” he says, tasting me gently. “I’ll figure it out for you.”
“Why?” I can barely breathe he’s squeezing me so tight, but he refuses to make eye contact like he knows something I don’t, and he’s afraid to tell me the bad news. I can’t believe I’m actually clinging to him the way I am. I just know he’s safety, he’s protection, he’s no longer the grumpy trainer—though he still has his temper—he’s security and promise. I just wish I knew why I feel this way and why every time he touches me, my lower back aches.
“Because we’re connected, I think. Because I care. Because…” He shakes his head. “I wish I had more answers, logic, solid reasoning for holding the woman I’m supposed to be training behind the bar after a phantom decides to lure her away. Maybe because I’m a god. It’s what I do.”
“You kiss random strangers?”
“No.” He smirks. “I haven’t kissed anyone in a very long, long time.”
I feel special in that moment. Needy. “Good reasons.”
He nods his head. “The only reasons I have for you right now.”
I grip his shirt. He wraps his arms around me. I don’t know why, but I need to deepen the kiss. He does it before I can, his tongue brushes mine, and I’m suddenly lost in him. My hands dig into his hair, he groans, and then I’m lifted against him. It’s all about us. I don’t care about anything else.
“Later,” he says between kisses. “I’ll figure it out later.”
“And now?” I ask.
“Now.” He yanks me against him. “I want you.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
思えば思わるる
Omoeba omowaruru
“When you care about (someone), you will be cared about.”
Love and be loved. / Love is the reward of love.
~Japanese proverb
Horus
I’m out of control. Even as I say it in my head and own it, I can’t stop it. I tug her into my apartment, thankful that it’s Tarek’s night to close.
I slam the door behind us. “Sorry.”
“Why?” Her eyes are thoroughly unfocused. Something isn’t right. I wave my hand in front of her face and drop it.
She’s not present with me.
She’s somewhere else.
I frown and gently pick her up into my arms. I kissed her, or she kissed me, whatever. There was something there. What happened? Where has she gone? I have no clue what’s going on as I lay her down on the couch and wait. I’ve never experienced this urgency with a total stranger before; it’s invigorating, even if it is terrifying. What did Timber say to me the day after I was stuck in this timeline? To live my life to the fullest? Is that what this feeling is? Living with weakness but relying on someone else even if it doesn’t last forever?
She is nothing to me, and yet I feel a pull.
Is this the lust I’ve been watching over and over again at the club? The reason men and women get into fights, the reason they cry out for each other, hit each other, puke on the ground, or drink too much trying to get over someone? In all my years, I have never known that sort of pull, only that of the people worshipping the random women I slept with to pass the time and me.
My powers are weak, but I can at least see what she’s seeing; maybe that will help me without having to go down into the Abyss to figure out what she actually is.
Maybe this will be enough to protect her in this lifetime.
I wave my hand over her face, then press my fingers against her temples.
She gasps, her chest rises hard, then falls. Her eyes close. Shit. I press harder and close my eyes, and then I wait.
“I will love you forever,” she whispers. “No matter what.”
The man sitting next to her has dark hair and familiar tattoos running down his arms; he flinches and then looks away. “Forever is different for so many people, just like futures.”
“Then exist in mine.” She grips his hand. She’s so happy like she’ll spend a lifetime with him.
“You’re not human, and you belong to someone else.” He slowly pulls his hand away from her. I feel the loss as if it’s my own. “It’s not meant to be.”