Page 125 of Challenge Me

“I’m not interested in meeting your demons, so don’t start trying to fight mine.”

“I’m here to keep assholes out of this place. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“And that’s why I like you, Tommy.” I held my fingers out to Loki. “But ninety percent of it is because of him.”

Just like every day, he was wearing his Security Pawficer hoodie, so I was convinced that Tommy didn’t hate it as much as he wanted me to think.

While I scratched Loki’s ears, my mood drooped again. If things went sideways with Amir, these two wouldn’t come around anymore. I couldn’t pay Tommy enough to keep him.

Reality was a bitter thing, but I’d swallowed worse.

Chapter 33

Remi

He longed only for warmth,

But was left to wander;

A lamp with no oil,

A song torn mid-verse.

It was the day after Amir left that the inevitable happened. It didn’t surprise me to find the note on the door at Remi’s.

I’d been living in the quiet, but it was always bound to break. Thought and Memory, like past and future versions of me, were meant to collide. What would come next? Well, that wasn’t fucking clear. All I knew was that everything I’d come to love hung in the balance, just like the reflection of myself and Yggdrasil.

“You’re quiet,” Tommy noted from his place at the bar. His virgin mojito was almost empty, so I started another.

“People keep saying that lately.”

“No stories today? No poems?”

“You hate my poems.”

“They make the night pass faster.”

“Mm. Poems require emotions, so no.”

“It’s like that, then.”

I poured the drink into his glass, refusing to meet his eyes. “Like what?”

“Apathy. Even self-inflicted, it can’t last forever, you know.”

“Yeah, I know.” Quickly, I glanced at the time. “I’m going to take a break. Text me if anyone needs me. Or you can get off your ass and make them a drink.”

He grunted, which I assumed meant he wouldn’t do that. I was sure he’d just make a mess of things if he tried.

I headed toward the back, glancing behind me a few times to make sure he hadn’t followed, not that he would. When I reached the heavy door that led to the alley, I took a deep breath before I pushed it open. The light over the dumpster cast a yellow glow that made it feel disgustingly cliché as I stepped outside.

A familiar sedan was parked twenty feet away. The door opened, and I watched cautiously as Cole stood.

It had been a long time since I’d seen him. His blond hair was cut short, except on the top, which flopped over in a perfectly styled way. In his pea coat and dark, fitted jeans, he appeared put together, like a fallen angel come to lead men astray. As he got closer, his grey eyes remained locked on me, and I squared my shoulders.

Last time we were together, it had taken my best friend and five other guys, most of them intimidating as hell, to give me the courage to stand up to this man. Even then, I’d barely done anything. Now, it was up to me to make sure he returned to the pits of hell from whence he came.

“I knew you’d meet me if I asked,” he said.