Chapter Three — Barely Touching
By the time they left the café, the rain had turned vicious.
Water spilled through the lower transit tunnels in black streams, carrying ash, oil, and
glowing chemical runoff beneath the fractured rails. Somewhere high above the city,
thunder rolled through the smog like distant machinery collapsing.
Vinny pulled his coat hood up as they climbed the flooded station stairs.
Avery kept close behind him.
Not close enough to touch.
Never that close.
But close enough that she could feel his body heat occasionally when he slowed.
Which somehow felt worse.
The city after dark always looked half-drowned.
Green haze drifted between towering ruins overhead while massive ventilation stacks
exhaled filtered Breath into the richer districts far above Lower Vein. Neon signs buzzed
weakly through the rain, reflecting poisonous color across slick pavement and shattered
cathedral windows.
Beautiful.
Rotting.
Poison City.
Vinny glanced sideways at her as they crossed beneath an elevated rail bridge.
“You’re staring again.”
“I’m literally looking at the street.”
“You get the same face when you’re thinking too hard.”
“That’s unfortunate for me.”
“It’s cute.”
Avery nearly slipped on wet pavement.
Vinny caught her elbow instantly.
Both of them froze.
Even through layers of fabric, the contact hit like electricity.
Vinny released her immediately.
Too immediately.
Rainwater dripped steadily from the bridge overhead between them.
Avery’s pulse stumbled painfully against her ribs.
Not fear.
God, that was the problem.
It never felt like fear with him anymore.
“You okay?” he asked quietly.
She nodded too fast.
Vinny watched her another second before continuing forward slower this time.
Careful.
Always careful.
Avery hated how much effort touching her required.
They cut through an old market district partially swallowed by ivy and rust. Most
storefronts sat abandoned now, windows shattered inward years ago during the ration
riots. Poisonous vines crawled across old neon signs, blooming dark flowers beneath
flickering advertisements for filtration brands that no longer existed.
Vinny stopped suddenly in front of a half-collapsed flower stall.
Avery blinked.
“You brought me to dead plants?”
“They’re not dead.”
“They’re aggressively dying.”
“Which means they match your personality perfectly.”
She rolled her eyes while Vinny crouched beside one of the rusted display crates. Rain
soaked through his dark curls immediately as he pushed aside broken glass carefully.
Then he smiled.
“There you are.”
Avery stepped closer instinctively.
Inside the ruined crate, tangled between black ivy and rusted metal supports, grew a
cluster of dark belladonna flowers.
Deep violet petals.
Black berries glistening wet beneath the rain.
Poison thriving in decay.
Beautiful.
Her breath caught slightly.
“You found nightshade.”
“Technically,” Vinny corrected, “I remembered where you found nightshade six months
ago.”
Avery looked at him.
“You remembered that?”
“You say weird things when you’re tired.”
“That doesn’t answer the question.”
Vinny plucked one flower carefully from the vines.
“You said poison flowers survive better than people do.” His eyes lifted back to hers.
“Seemed important.”
Something warm and painful twisted inside Avery’s chest.
Nobody remembered things she said.
Not useless things.
Not soft things.
Certainly not enough to repeat them back months later.
Rain slid slowly down Vinny’s throat beneath the open collar of his coat.
Avery looked away before she could think too hard about that.
“Here,” he murmured.
He extended the flower toward her.
Avery hesitated.
Not because of the flower.
Because his fingers were bare.
No gloves.
No barriers.
Vinny noticed immediately.
“You trust the flower more than me?”
“You aren’t poisonous.”
His smile turned softer somehow.
“That’s where you’re wrong.”
The rain muted the city around them into soft static.
Avery stared at his hand.
At the tiny space between them.
This was how it always happened.
Not dramatic.
Not reckless.
Just Vinny slowly standing too close to danger like he’d forgotten other people feared it.
“You should put gloves back on,” she whispered.
“You first.”
“You know that isn’t the same thing.”
“Doesn’t feel different to me.”
Her throat tightened.
Because maybe that was true.
Maybe Vinny genuinely didn’t understand the line between courage and self-destruction
anymore.
Slowly, Avery reached forward.
Careful.
Precise.
Every nerve in her body alive.
Her gloved fingertips brushed the flower first.
Then accidentally—
his skin.
Barely.
A ghost of contact.
Still enough.
Vinny inhaled sharply.
Avery jerked backward instantly.
The flower slipped from his hand into the rainwater below.
“Oh God—”
“Avery.”
“You shouldn’t—”
“Avery.”
He stepped closer again before she could retreat further.
Too close.
Rain soaked through both their clothes while the poisoned city glowed sickly green around
them.
Vinny’s breathing had changed slightly.
Not pain.
Not yet.
Something worse.
Warmth.
Avery knew the symptoms too well.
The poison always began gently.
Euphoria first.
Body heat.
Lightness.
Pleasure.
Then the damage started later.
“Vinny—”
“I’m okay.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know you touched me for less than a second.”
“That’s enough sometimes.”
Silence.
Rain.
Breath caught between them.
Then—
Vinny smiled again.
Actually smiled.
Slow.
Crooked.
Ruined.
“I think,” he said softly, “that might’ve been the nicest thing that’s happened to me all
month.”
Avery stared at him in horror.
And somewhere deep beneath the terror—
love bloomed anyway.