Keep that bastard away from him.

Dialling the police, I hadn’t gotten two steps before the line connected with a brusque female, “What’s your emergency?”

Protect him.

“Hi, um, I’d like to report an attempted kidnapping?”

The operator tapped something in the background. “Time the incident occurred?”

“About an hour ago. Outside Total Trickery—a warehouse down in the industrial area in Birmingham. He...he attempted to drag me into a van.”

Help him.

“Okay, we’re sending officers right away.”

“Oh, no need. He’s gone. I was able to escape.”

“Do you have a description? A license plate number?”

Heal him.

“Yes.” Opening the pedestrian door to leave, I recited. “I got his plate. It’s XT8—”

Something slammed me into the metal roller.

My phone tumbled from my hand.

I slipped quick and deep into darkness.

OceanofPDF.com

OceanofPDF.com

Chapter Twelve

______________________________

Gil

-The Past-

“YOU DON’T HAVE to walk me home every day, you know.” Olin flicked me a smile.

A smile that held a few months of history. A smile that said we were friends based on time and not just want.

“I know.” I hoisted her bag higher along with mine, carrying both like a gentleman should. I wasn’t a gentleman. But I went out of my way so she never figured that out.

“It’s on the opposite side of town where you live.”

I stilled. “How do you know where I live?” Ever since the incident with the blood a few months ago, I’d been careful to keep everything about my home life a mystery. I liked Olin too much to let her know I wasn’t a straightforward kid like the others in our class. I liked that she liked me for me. I liked that there was no pity in her eyes. No sorrow. No charity.

“I don’t.” She sighed, used to me withdrawing on topics of my health and home. “But I’m not blind and I’m not stupid, Gil.” Coming toward me, she slipped her hand into mine.

Just like the first time she’d done that, I jumped and sucked in a breath, not used to such kindness from touch. Not prepared for the feral need to demand more.

Having Olin touch me soothed something broken inside me, but it also condemned me to more pain imaginable.

Schooling the churning confusion in my belly, I squeezed her fingers with propriety.

We walked for a time, strolling through quaint neighbourhoods and beneath manicured trees before she murmured, “I know you don’t have it easy, Gil. I wasn’t going to ask but...” She tugged me to a stop on the curb of some pretty white house with its pretty white fence. “I’m worried about you. Who hurts you? Your dad? Your mum? You know you don’t have to put up with it, right? We can tell someone. Get you help.”

I yanked my hand from hers, stalking forward with two bags banging against my rigid frame. “It’s late. Your parents will be wondering where you are.”

She laughed sadly, trotting to keep up with me. “You know they don’t wonder. They’re in Italy again this week.”

I kept my gaze locked on the horizon. In the few months I’d been walking Olin home from school, I hadn’t once met her parents.

She hadn’t been lying about living alone.

“Just leave it, Olin.”

We didn’t speak again until I opened the small iron gate and marched up the path to her front door. Her home would’ve been the postcard for any perfect family if it hadn’t been as tainted as my hovel on the other side of town. Mine gave no illusions about being destitute in both love and kindness, but Olin’s lied with its silver sashes and white render.

It said a daughter lived here with parents who made her healthy dinners and helped her with her homework. It convinced its neighbours that the rooms were full of laughter not loneliness.

My heart hardened, hating her parents more each day as Olin danced to my side and slipped her key into the lock. Slipping her bag off my shoulder, I held it out to her. “See you at school tomorrow.”

She turned in the foyer, ignoring the side table with its fake orchids and the plush cream carpet on the staircase leading to bedrooms above. She only had eyes for me as she took her bag, threw it against the coat rack, then grabbed my wrist and yanked me inside.

She knew the rules.

I walked her home.

I left her the moment she was safe.

I hadn’t stepped foot into her house.

I didn’t belong there.

“Olin, stop.”

“Come in, Gil. It’s not going to kill you.” Fighting against my reluctance, she leaned into her invitation, dragging me forcibly into the living room complete with sectional couches, a large flat screen, and white sparkly kitchen.

It couldn’t be more different to the place I lived in if it tried.

My skin crawled to leave. To hide all the bad pieces of me that Olin didn’t know about. I wanted her to continue not knowing, despite wanting to tell her everything.

“I’m hungry.” She jerked me toward the kitchen, grabbed my dirty backpack and tossed it onto a barstool, then pressed my shoulders for me to sit in a matching one. “You’re going to sit there and entertain me while I cook us something. Okay?”

My jaw worked as I fought against her push, eyeing up the front door. “I shouldn’t be here.”

“You should. You are.” Her gaze softened. “Please, Gil. Stay...for me?”

I groaned, slouching on the stool. “That’s warfare.”

“War? You want a war between us?” Her fingers latched onto my shoulders.

“No. I said asking me to stay that way. It’s not fair.”

Playfulness entered her voice as she fluttered dark eyelashes. “Oh, have I finally found a weakness? If I say please, does that mean I get to command you for a change?” She laughed, her hands sliding from my shoulders to cup my cheeks.

“I don’t command you.” I gulped as the heat of her fingers made my heart pound.

“Oh, yes, you do.” She leaned in and brushed her nose with mine. “But I’m not complaining.”

Everything froze.

Our lips were so close.

Our hearts so fast.

All I wanted to do was drag her onto my lap and kiss her. I’d wanted so fucking long to kiss her.

And that was why I didn’t trust myself in her house.

Standing quickly, I shoved her back.

Hurt flashed in her gaze, but she recovered quickly. “I’m making pancakes, and you’re not going anywhere.” Her voice was confident, but it lacked bravery to force me to obey. I could walk out the door, and she would forgive me tomorrow.

But the thing was...I wouldn’t forgive me because how could I ever walk out on this girl? How could I ever tell her just how much I liked her, wanted her, craved her?

Sighing, I raked a hand over my face and begged my body to stop driving me crazy. Olin wasn’t just someone I wanted to sleep with. She was the future I would do anything to claim.

And that meant I couldn’t have her until I knew I had her heart.

Which was a terribly selfish thing to do because until I knew she was in love with me she would know nothing about me. Because once she knew...she wouldn’t want a future with me.

Who would?

I had no money, no security. I didn’t even have absentee parents. I had abuse and drug use and the mixed bloodlines of whores and thieves.

Olin had to love me for me...only then could I be free.

I sat back down.

As my thoughts raced, Olin danced around the kitchen. I would never grow tired of watching her move. Even when she reached for a pen in class or skirted around students in the hall, she danced.

She couldn’t stop it.

Dance was in every droplet of her blood. Every limb elegant, every motion flawless.

I’d sneaked into the ballet recital a few weeks ago to watch her perform. She didn’t know I’d been there, and I couldn’t tear my eyes off her. I’d always found Olin beautiful, inside and out, but seeing her on that stage? Witnessing how a girl could become light as a feather and perfect as swirling snowflakes, I lost the final barricades around my heart.