Chapter 38
Xander
(One Year Ago)
I SHOULD’VE BEEN AN ACTOR instead of a bass guitarist in a rock band. I’d surprised myself with how amazing I did at portraying a calm and reassuring lover the entire time Kendyll spoke. Even as she agreed to my plan of attending her brother’s wedding together, I kept up the unshaken mask of calm.
It wasn’t until Kendyll retreated inside to call Terrance about the details of going that the facade I’d been wearing fizzled away like fire burning away at a paper mache copy of myself.
My eyes burned as the human gave way to the demon, and a vicious growl tore through my lips, startling Catsper awake.
I clenched my clawed hands hard enough to draw blood and ground my fanged teeth so hard, I expected them to break.
I wasn’t a fucking idiot. I’d been alive a long ass time.
I didn’t need Kendyll to spell it out for me.
I knew what had happened to her. I knew what that fucking bastard had done.
Everything from the entire time I’d known Kendyll suddenly funnelled back to me with an all new dark, gut-wrenching clarity.
Little Kendyll hiding from “the scary man” in her closet.
A man’s hand reaching through the crack in the door to coax her out.
A note in her medical chart about making up “childhood trauma.”
Her hatred of being touched, nightmares, and her nearly impenetrable walls.
I agreed to go to the wedding with her, because I could tell how much she wanted to see her brother get married. I’d witnessed first hand how much the siblings loved each other every time they spoke on the phone. But I realized a huge problem now that Kendyll’s hopeful face wasn’t in front of me.
I didn’t know how I was going to stand in the same room as that fucker and not kill him.
At least … not during the event. Ruining the day with his murder would inevitably upset Kendyll by extension.
I refused to do anything that would hurt her more.
So I’d somehow wait for the goddamn wedding to end with the bride and groom sent off on their merry way.
But as soon as it was over and Kendyll was back in the safety of our happy home, I wouldn’t hold back.
He was fucking dead.
I WATCHED KENDYLL PACK HER suitcase from the doorway of what I now considered our bedroom as opposed to simply mine.
She was leaving for her brother’s wedding tomorrow.
She’d booked a room at the luxury hotel where the wedding was being held, just in case she needed her own escape from the event, but she wasn’t actually planning on staying there for long.
She was going to head there tomorrow in time to get ready for the wedding, attend the ceremony, see her brother, and leave.
I had a band gig on a TV show tomorrow, but thankfully, it ended with roughly twenty minutes to spare before I needed to get there myself for the ceremony. Because of that, Kendyll and I had agreed that she would stay in her hotel room until I arrived.
Her brow was furrowed in a mask of focus, but I saw the slight shake in her hands.
I saw the way her bright green eyes had gone dull with countless worries and memories no doubt plaguing her mind.
The pain she’d have to endure tomorrow would be a lot, but that was tomorrow. She didn’t have to suffer right now.
Pushing off the doorframe, I squatted next to her and looked through her suitcase.
“I think you need a break. Want to sneak into an amusement park? I can get your favorite coaster stuck with us on it so that we get to ride it as many times as you want. Or there’s a new horror movie that just came out.
We could go see that, and I can get you all the movie theatre snacks you want. Or—”
She pressed a light kiss to the corner of my mouth, making me look up at her. She smiled sweetly. “I know you’re trying to distract me. Thanks. I’m alright.” She stood and headed out of the bedroom. “I actually have something for you.”
I followed her into the open living room and kitchen area. She darted to the fridge and pulled something behind her back from inside. We met halfway, right behind my couch. With a grin, she pulled the secret out from behind her back to hold it out to me. My brows rose.
“A taro boba tea,” Kendyll stated proudly. “I ordered one for you today while I was out getting my dress. I know it took awhile, but I’m finally paying you back for your taro boba tea.”
I accepted the purple drink and stared at the cup, recalling that day when Kendyll learned about malicious spirits the hard way.
I obviously never really wanted to be paid back for the drink.
I honestly couldn’t believe she’d remembered something so small and inconsequential as that joke.
I would’ve laughed under different circumstances, but … I couldn’t crack a grin this time.
Something about this, about her choosing now to pay back this “debt,” churned my insides with apprehension.
This felt like tying up loose ends before she left.
It was like she wanted to ensure I got the drink now because there wouldn’t be a chance to give it to me later.
As though she was planning on leaving and not returning.
I gave the drink back to her with a hard swallow. “I don’t want it. You can give it to me tomorrow after the wedding. Consider the debt still open until then.”
She’d still be there after the wedding. She wasn’t going anywhere. She wasn’t running from me again.
Her dark brows rose, but she slowly accepted the beverage. “You’re a strange demon sometimes.”
“Get used to it, because you’re stuck with me. From now on. Forever. Kendyll Grace Ruan.”
The smile that lit up her face upon hearing me use her new full name shook away any worries or doubts I had. “You sure do use that name a lot now, Ruan Yitang.”
My cock thickened instantly upon hearing my real name roll past her lips. I snaked my arms around her to pull her flush against me, and I rolled my hips into her so that she felt just what she did to me.
“Say my name again, and I’ll have you screaming it instead.”
She placed her free hand on my chest and rubbed my pec teasingly. “I wouldn’t mind that. After I finish packing.”
I wanted to grumble as she pulled out of my arms. She returned the boba drink to the fridge and resumed her task of gathering her belongings for tomorrow.
The minute she stood over her things again, that heavy cloud fell back over her.
But how could it not? She had to breathe the same fucking air as the man who’d abused her and locked her away to cover it up.
I leaned against the doorframe and crossed my arms again. I dug my fingers into my arms, fighting the urge to shift into my true form in a fit of rage. I’d save that venom for tomorrow. I’d save that emotion for him.
Tomorrow, everything would change. He’d never be able to hurt Kendyll again, and she could finally take hold of her own life.
She was still under contract with Bethelma, but I could easily get her out of that or help her pass the time if she wouldn’t let me use some demon magic to tweak the longevity of her contract.
The two of us would finally be able to be together without anything to make Kendyll hesitate.
“Everything will work out,” I announced firmly from where I watched her. “You’ll see. Tomorrow will have its hard moments, but I’m going to be right there with you. Nothing will happen to you.”
Her half-hearted smile nearly broke me as she held out her pinky to me. “Pinky promise?”
I closed the distance between us and knelt on the floor. I wrapped my pinky around hers. “I pinky promise, Ghost. After tomorrow, this life is yours.”
She looked at our locked hands. Her lips pressed together, a sign that she wanted to speak but needed to figure out the words or the courage to release them. I waited with our pinkies still perfectly intertwined and let her take as much time as she needed.
When her eyes found mine, sadness swam in them. “I … don’t think my story has a happy ending, Xander. At least, that’s what I’ve always thought.”
“Then we’ll make it a happy one. You and me. We’ll write a new story after tomorrow, and it’ll have a happy ending. I promise.”
She nodded slowly and blew out a tired, anxious breath. “I hope you’re right.”