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Lara

Debil

I don’t even know what it means, so I rev the engine again. A light turns on in a window above. Someone yells from across the street. I don’t care. My phone vibrates.

Lara

Enough! It’s a residential neighborhood you asshole!

I rev again. This time, harder.

Lara

I’m coming.

There we go. I get out the car, smiling like a moron.

CHAPTER 22

LAST MOON

When I hear the engine under my building and get a text from an unknown number, I know it’s him before I even look.

Nero

Get down

I stare at the screen and consider my options. I’ve been locked inside for a week. I’ve probably inhaled ten thousand dollars’ worth of stardust, which is impressive and financially suicidal. Maybe this is the moment I should go outside before I become a mental patient in my own living room. Maybe I should see people that aren’t dead.

The engine roars again.

And again.

I close my eyes.

Fine.

What’s the worst thing that can happen?

Death would be a mercy right now.

I shower fast, tie my hair into a ponytail, and put on a black mini skirt and a black top. I don’t have the energy for makeup beyond making myself look less like a corpse, and even that is a lot right now. Before I leave, I do one thick line of stardust and pack more in my bag.

When I get downstairs, a black Lamborghini waits in front of my building. Nero gets out and opens the passenger door for me. I have no idea how his huge frame even fits inside that car. He wears a simple black T-shirt, because when you look like him, that’s all you need. His black hair gleams in the night. He looks like the devil pretending to live among humans.

When I reach the door, he grabs my hand to help me get in and also leans in for a kiss. I don’t give in. He just shakes his head, like I’m predictable in a way he enjoys.

When he gets behind the wheel, I say, “I thought you only drive bikes like a little boy.”

“It’s easier to get a blowjob in here.”

I open the door to get out. Nero catches my thigh with his hand, his tattoos dark on my white skin.

“You started it,” he states.

I pause with one foot already outside, then sigh and pull the door shut. It’s not like I have something better to do. I’m high enough to make terrible choices. Might as well drive through Midnight City with the most unhinged wolf I know. We move through the streets, neon lights sliding across the windshield. Nero watches me from the corner of his eye.

“You look better,” he says.