His voice dropped. “But I can’t have you. Not yet. Not now.”
Anger burned through me, suddenly. I was so tired of this. Of this endless pause. Just before he turned away, I snapped.
“Then run,” I said, voice shaking. “Run from the feelings. Run from me. Run from every single thing you feel.”
He stopped.
Turned again.
And stepped in close enough for my skin to hum.
“I’m not running, Trouble,” he whispered. “I’m just chasing the silence before my mind catches up.”
His breath brushed my cheek as he added, “Because if I stay… my mind will go to places.”
His eyes dropped to my mouth. “And we don’t want that.”
“Fuck you,” I muttered through gritted teeth, but my voice cracked.
He just laughed. Then turned and pushed through the crowd without looking back.
I stood there alone, heart thudding in my chest, and sat down on the crumbling stone just to breathe.
I waited. I watched. Maybe he’d come back.
But he didn’t.
Maybe he really was chasing silence, but I didn’t want silence. I wanted his voice. His words. His everything. That was all I ever wanted. To talk to him. To hear him talk to me like I mattered. And maybe he did care.
But he acted like everything else came first. Like the world had a louder claim on him than I ever would. They say if someone likes you, they’ll make you a priority. The problem was, wewerea priority to each other.
Just not one the world would let us keep. We were the kind of love that burned too hot. Too close.
The kind people would callwrong,just because it didn’t fit the story they believed in. And maybe our hearts screamed for eachother, but our minds were the ones doing the choosing. And our minds werecowards.
FOURTEEN
DORIAN
25 YEARS OLD
Isearched for Lenore for hours, but she wasn’t there. She had disappeared, and no matter how hard I searched the crowd, I couldn’t find her. She was nowhere to be found.
Then Cameron came stumbling toward me. Sophie’s cousin. My friend. His hands were covered in blood, his eyes wide with panic. He grabbed a fistful of my shirt and shook me.
“She, she…”
“Who?” My heart slammed in my chest. My thoughts jumped straight to Lenore. She wasn’t here. Had something happened?
I grabbed his collar, yanked him closer. “Who?!”
“S-S-Sophie…” he stammered. Tears streaked down his face. “Sophie died.”
“What?” I stared at him, not understanding. “How?”
He didn’t answer. He just pointed to the woods.
I followed the sound of people screaming. My legs moved on their own, carrying me down the dirt path, through the trees, until I saw her.
