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“That’s the only way you’re setting those feet on the ground tonight.”
I huffed and considered my options. Up this high, I could grab onto the heater grate and rip myself off of him. Maybe land a kick or two. I could also just bite his shoulder like a rabid beast, but then that involved putting my mouth on his body, and I wasn’t sure I could get out of that unscathed.
“Fucking stubborn woman,” he sighed. His weight shifted, and then I found my ass plopped on his thigh like a chair, while his leg propped up. And then, his arms went around me.
“W-what are you doing?” I stammered, dumbstruck. He really just wanted a hug?
“Isn’t this nice?” he said contentedly.
All I could feel was how perfectly enveloped I was by him. Every inch of skin he touched, every place his warmth sunk through my clothes. The way he held me like I was something lost he’d found an eternity after.
What the hell is this?
Confused but a little intrigued, I hesitantly rested my arms over his shoulder and gently patted his back. There. That counted, right? Now that I was here, it wasn’t completely terrible. Beyond the embarrassment and the physical attraction, this embrace felt oddly comforting.
Not what I was expecting. Like, at all.
“Not so bad, right?” he prodded.
“It will never not be weird,” I replied matter-of-factly. “But you’re very good at hugging. I will admit that. Now, if you could kindly put me down.”
“Ah, fine. If you insist.” He held my waist and straightened his leg, sliding me down to my feet. Holding me at arm’s length, he grinned down. “Feel better, though?”
“I mean, I’m a little less irritated than I was before. Oddly enough. I’d normally be more pissed that someone force-hugged me, but it wasn’t awful.”
He snapped his fingers. “I’ll take it. Gray, do you trust me a little more?”
“Are you asking if you can hug me casually like I hug Azra?”
His sad puppy stare made me choke on a groan.
This is ridiculous. You’d laugh in any person’s face if they tried this with you.
But maybe the long day exhausted me into some form of submission, something to make me say, “Fine. You can hug me. But I have every right to say no when I don’t want to, and you can’t just force me.”
He straightened and nodded like a dutiful soldier. “Absolutely. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a date with Betty.”
“Wait up,” I said, shocking even myself. “I’m going that way too.”
As we walked out of the building together, a figure darted away through the quad. I recognized that black baseball cap and dark jacket. Even the shoulders and posture were familiar.
So. Nathaniel Harlock was still watching me.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
I didn’t tell Razai about Nathaniel. The kid seemed more scared of me than I could ever be of him, what with his hunched back and hurried walk. He summoned his crystalline angel wings and launched into the sky, soon lost beyond the trees.
As we walked across the campus, Razai chattered about the importance of bees and pollination while I mulled over the note.
Why did it feel like I’d been defeated? There was no way to know whether the killer knew my personal identity, but somehow, they knew that I was looking for them. Maybe Razai was right. Maybe this wasn’t the end.
But I couldn’t help but feel like I’d taken on too much. The challenge was maddening and seductive, and I’d agreed to it—to the potential destruction of everything I cared about.
Betty came into view like an industrial specter of torture, and true to Razai’s promise, she dripped with the fog’s dew. Ember stood with her class’s group, observing the twisted obstacle course with interest. Behind her, Cole stared holes into the back of her head.
“Hey,” I said, nudging Razai out of his monologue. “Why is he here?”
Razai said, “We have joint class meetings sometimes. Ember’s group is small, so I scheduled their first week with an intermediate group. Makes it more fun to watch.”
