Magda
A s promised, the bear claws were hot and waiting by the time I’d gotten out of the shower, and Caleb, having woken up fully, had wrapped the throw blanket around his shoulders. He looked pale; perhaps a little tired. He offered me a weak smile when I padded out, drying my hair in a towel.
“If you want to take a shower, Katie wouldn’t mind,” I suggested. “There’s soap here—towels too.”
Caleb grinned at that. “Sounds too good to be true… but… ah, where are my clothes?”
“Being washed,” said Carmilla as I added two bear claws onto a plate and sat on the couch across from him. “Katie said she’d bring them up when she was done in the shop.”
“Washer and dryer’s downstairs,” I said around the pastry I’d stuffed in my face. I wasn’t hungry, per se, but Katie was one of the best bakers I’d ever met, and her bear claws were second to none. There was no way I wasn’t going to have at least one… or three. “She’s doing a load of linens for the café, too, so it shouldn’t be too much longer.”
“You have clothes here?” asked Caleb, eyeing my pajamas. I couldn’t tell if he was disappointed or just curious.
“These are some spares Katie keeps for when I stay over. I’ve got extras at my place for her, too. I’d offer you some, but I’m afraid all that’s probably left are her fuzzy bunny jammies.”
“It probably beats being stuck in my underwear.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t go that far,” I laughed, “though I would enjoy seeing you try to get even a single foot into those pajamas. Katie’s even smaller than me.”
Caleb looked like he was about to retort with something hellishly inappropriate when Katie’s intercom buzzed. I turned toward the door, as I was the only one in the room who knew where it was and how to work it, and ran over to press the buzzer. Katie’s face flickered on the screen in the grainy video.
“Hey,” she said. “Danny’s down here and he’s a wreck—can you come and talk to him?”
“What? Why is?—”
“You never answered him, apparently? He’s been texting and calling to apologize for the shitty thing he did on your birthday”—she leaned in and lowered her voice—“and I was not about the be the one to tell him it was because you were schtupping someone. A really hot someone?—”
“Okay, Katie, jeez… all right.” I rubbed a tired hand across my forehead. Danny. Goddammit. I should have known Katie would have eventually gotten hold of him and given him an earful. She probably called him and cussed him out the minute she dropped me off at the doctor’s on Saturday. I’d bet he’d been freaking out since then—hence the numerous texts and calls I’d gotten following my “appointment.” Hell, it was almost laughable. It felt like my birthday had been two hundred years ago, if it was a day. How had my life changed so much in such a small amount of time? I looked around, sighing as I realized my bag—and therefore my phone—was nowhere in sight, and I spun to the doctor.
“Carmilla,” I called over my shoulder, “did you happen to grab my purse when we left? Cell phone, anything?”
“Uh, no, didn’t think to,” she shouted back.
I sighed then turned back to the monitor. “Can you tell him I’m coming down?”
“Aye-aye, cap’n!” Katie said with a goofy grin on her face. She signed off with a dramatic military salute before ending the call.
I normally would have found Katie’s antics much funnier had it not been for the fact that I was literally in the middle of getting ready to explain the whole “we can’t keep having sex or our weird demon magic will bind us together in some kind of bizarre, un holy matrimony” to the incredibly hot guy I’d literally been banging all weekend, but whose middle name I didn’t even know?—
Holy fuck, listen to yourself. “Banging” all weekend? You’re twenty-six, not seventeen, I reminded myself. But what exactly did one call it? “Making love” felt too personal, and “having sex” too informal. What was the middle ground? “Fucking?” Too vulgar. I shook my head and settled on “sleeping with” until I could think of something more appropriate for… whatever we were.
No, whatever we had been… he’s leaving tonight, remember? Then… you are, too—and not to go with him.
The reminder brought a deep pang of agony with it. Even though we were practically strangers, there was something… there. I’d felt things—desire, wanting—for people before. I even longed for it sometimes, but with every punishing, terrible fear my parents had put into my head, I’d never once considered it was something meant for me. I’d only started dating, really dating, in secret when I’d gone to college.
I’d gone on a lot of first dates—a couple seconds, and even managed to date some guys for a couple weeks or months, but it always ended the same way. The moment a man tried to show any physical interest in me, I’d panicked and run. In a couple of cases, quite literally. Even when I’d enjoyed making out and touching just fine. Even when I’d been the one to initiate the physicality. The moment penetrative sex was involved, I was overcome with terror.
Danny was the longest relationship I’d ever managed, and the only reason I was even able to manage that long was because he knew about my issues with sex knew beforehand. He’d even been a shoulder to cry on about it in the past. I hadn’t meant to torment him by not answering this weekend, but I realized—or at least, some deep, dark part of me was willing to admit—that I wasn’t entirely sad that he’d been sweating the fact I hadn’t answered him. A tiny thrill raced through me at the thought of him wanting me badly enough that the thought of losing me permanently had made him a total wreck.
Did I feel that way because I was a demon… or was that really just who I was? I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer to why the thought of his desperation to fix things with me had suddenly become such a turn on. I was getting a bit too excited thinking about it. Maybe that part was due to my current state of being a bit more excitable than usual as my body adjusted to its own succubus nature? Either way, I found myself suddenly looking forward to going downstairs to see Danny, the wreck, who had come to beg my forgiveness.
I slipped into a pair of Katie’s house shoes and went back into the living room, hoping that I wasn’t giving off too much of my emotional state. By the look in Caleb’s eye, though, I knew I was likely failing.
“Listen, I need to run downstairs to the café, but I’m not going anywhere—” I supplied before Caleb could interrupt. “Katie’s brother… my ex… is here, and he wants to talk.”
Carmilla looked over at Caleb, who was just watching me, his face inscrutable.
“Do you need us to come with you?” he asked.
“No,” I answered. “It’ll be fine. Besides, I think there were… a couple things Carmilla needs to explain to you.”
Caleb looked up at her, a wary look in his eye. “About our situation?”
“Something like that,” she interrupted, taking the heat off of me a bit. She turned to me with a small smile, then forced a fiendish glint into her grin as she winked. “Good luck. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
I was already halfway out the door before I muttered, “That doesn’t exactly narrow the playing field any, does it?”
I could have sworn I heard Carmilla laugh as I hurried down the stairs, but I wasn’t in the mood for joviality. If all went according to plan, she’d be explaining the circumstances of our pairing to Caleb; about the fact that we couldn’t risk sleeping together anymore; and then she would be flying him off to one of her safe houses to leave him in the care of another incubus cambion. Hopefully, they would help him gain some control over his transformation.
The thought of him leaving was enough to crush me, even though I knew it was for the best. Carmilla had suggested that I find a distraction to slip downstairs, so she probably thought that was exactly what I was doing, but the truth was that Danny had supplied the distraction on his own. For once, being useful for something other than being an ass.
Harsh, but… not entirely undeserved , I chided myself. I might still have been a teensy bit mad at him, and it wasn’t a good realization to have right before I went to confront him about his behavior… and the pain it caused me.
I stopped at the bottom stairs, trying to regain my composure. Sure, he was an ass… but maybe I was being a bit unfair. The breakup wouldn’t have hurt so much if he hadn’t lied to me, though, and told me he could handle waiting for me to be ready.
Hell, if he’d waited literally one more day to breakup with me, I’d probably have gone to his apartment begging for him to have sex with me after meeting Carmilla. Then again…
If someone really had orchestrated mine and Caleb’s bodies being on a collision course, maybe I never would have had the chance to at all.
I slipped into the customers’ bathroom and checked my reflection in the mirror. I looked… I was shocked. No makeup, no nothing… I looked so… healthy… so… hot?
I still don’t know how I’ll get used to having this happen… from sex.
I approached the swinging doors that led into the dining room and heard raised voices. I slowed my pace. I didn’t intend to eavesdrop, but I heard the annoyance in Katie’s voice and hesitated before entering.
“Dude, she is fine , okay? More than fine—trust me. I told her you’re here, and she’ll be down any second. We’re kind of having a… girls’ night anyway, so you could just talk to her tomorrow. She practically lives here anyway—I mean, it’s not like you couldn’t see her whenever you want to. You’re the one who fucked things up, Dan. She was a mess on Friday.”
“I know! I wasn’t trying to be an asshole, I just wasn’t thinking! You and Mom made me feel so bad—thanks for telling her, by the way. I always look forward to my mother calling and bemoaning where she’d messed up to have raised a son who would treat a woman like that. Super fun time there, so thanks .”
I covered my mouth to keep the giggle from slipping out. Mrs. O’Leary had always been protective of me, so I was sure she chewed Danny out. Okay. Maybe he’d suffered enough if Katie tattled on Danny to their mom after Concepción had also cursed him out in three different languages at the bar.
“You’re an idiot,” Katie countered. “If you can’t handle the time, don’t commit the crime. Mom would have found out anyway. You know she loves like another daughter.”
“Dude, you all know I’m an idiot,” Danny said. “I mess up constantly.”
“Yes, but you’re usually not malicious when you fuck things up,” Katie retorted. “This one was bad, Danny. Mags didn’t deserve that.”
“I…” He paused. “I know.”
I pushed open the swinging door. Katie was facing me, but Danny was facing the front door and window, his back to me, unaware that I was in the room.
“At any rate.” Katie stood from the table she’d been cleaning, then grabbed her brother’s arm and shoved the rag into his hand. “You can explain that yourself”—she turned him around to face me—“as you finish wiping down these tables as an apology for putting your sister and her best friend through hell.”
Danny’s eyes widened when he caught sight of me, his mouth dropping open.
“I’m going upstairs with my other guests,” said Katie as she passed me, slapping a hand on my ass cheek, squeezing it briefly. “Behave, you two.”
I glanced over my shoulder at her, about to say something, when Danny stepped toward me.
“H-how are you?” Danny asked, his expression still nearly slack jawed as his eyes roved over my body, leaving a fiery, nearly physical ache in their trail, which surprised me. His lust was instantaneous; it was sharp and hot like cinnamon. “I’m sorry, Mags, I really?—”
“Please… don’t,” I said lightly, trying to come up with a reply that wouldn’t cause more questions. “I wasn’t avoiding you on purpose. I left my phone at a friend’s house on Saturday. I was going to go pick it up later, so I actually haven’t gotten any messages or calls yet.”
“Oh,” said Danny, blinking as he tore his eyes from my bosom back to my face. “Uh, then that makes this a lot more awkward.”
I laughed and took another step toward him. He mirrored my movement, almost subconsciously.
“Should I just delete them without reading any, or maybe make you read them all aloud to me here instead?” I asked, twisting my hands coyly behind my back. “You know. As penitence?”
A shiver of desire ran through me. I was flirting with him. Me! Flirting, like a pro! I’d been so convinced of my lack of skills, I’d rarely ever tried, and I’d always been aware of how awkward I came across when I had. Danny’s pupils were so dilated they nearly swallowed up his face. Even in the darkened café, I could register that minute change.
“If it would make you feel better,” he said, his voice dropping, breath catching. “Have you… uh, have you done something with your hair… or something? You look… different.”
The playfulness in my belly faded a bit. Right , I recalled. Demon attraction. I stood upright, crossing my arms over my chest.
“Something like that,” I said. “So… Katie said you wanted to talk…?”
“Oh,” Danny blinked as he recalled, sheepishly scratching his head. “Yeah. I want to apologize. About the… your birthday. It was a really shitty, dumb thing to do. Especially on your birthday, but especially because I owe you better.” He cleared his throat and tossed the rag Katie had handed him down on a nearby diner table. “I also realized that it probably seemed like I was suggesting sex was the reason that we weren’t going to work out, and I didn’t want you to think that was the only thing. You remember how I told you I had to stay late a couple months back for the project my team was working on? Finalizing some stuff with my boss? Well, it was actually a meeting to let me know I’d been picked to be one of the team leads for the new branch my company’s opening. We were going over the terms and contract, and figuring out some final details… I start next month.”
I smiled from ear to ear despite myself. “Danny, that’s incredible!” Without meaning to, I ran forward and wrapped him in a hug. “I’m happy for you.”
He leaned back and looked guiltily into my face before looking away. “The office is up in Canada. It’s in Victoria, actually… on the west coast.”
“British Columbia?” I asked, frowning at him. I took a step back, let go of his arms. “Wait… why didn’t you tell me any of this? We were still going out then. I was…” I paused, recalling. I’d been shopping for a cute piece of lingerie to wear for the “big night” of our one-year anniversary and looking for hotels. I felt my breath catching in my throat.
“You were planning on breaking up with me,” I whispered. “You were going to have sex with me and then break up with me after.”
“Mags, please, it’s not like that.” Danny reached for my arm, but I wrenched myself out of his grasp, glaring him down. “No, no, okay? I was not going to sleep with you and then dump you. I was…” He grimaced. “I was going to ask if you wanted to come with me, and if not, I was going to ask if you wanted to do a long-distance relationship, but?—”
“But you never brought up any of that,” I said. “Because you knew I’d opt for the long-distance relationship, and because you knew you’d have to either break up with me or you’d end up sleeping around behind my back, and it would make you feel guilty.”
“Mags, that’s not fair,” Danny said, leaning back against a table and sitting on it. I mirrored his movement, the emotional distance between us far greater than even the six feet of physical space. “Look at what happened on our anniversary! I mean, listen, I know you can’t help it. I still love you. I do. If you and I could have worked out, we would have, right? But if we can barely touch when we’re sitting in the same room, what would it have been like when we were across countries…?”
“So, to you, our anniversary was a test,” I said, my voice catching. “One that I failed. You decided to break up with me that night, didn’t you? Why make me wait for two weeks, then?”
“I didn’t want to hurt you. I really didn’t. Please know I was being honest with you when we started dating. I said I would wait—that you were worth it. You are , Mags, I promise! I’m the one who was fooling myself. I thought I could handle it, and I couldn’t. As cliché as it is, I have needs, and when we couldn’t… y’know … I figured it was a sign that I should just end it. I fought my want for you constantly . I didn’t want to just tell you the next day and upset you, so I thought maybe a break might be good… but then I found out I’m moving next week, and I figured it couldn’t wait any longer.”
“You mean you didn’t want to upset you ,” I told him. “You didn’t want to deal with me crying and being sad, so instead you ‘officially’ broke up with me on my birthday, in front of a room full of people so we wouldn’t be able to talk about it and you could run away.” My anger was stoking a heated fire within me. “Do I have that right?”
Danny licked his lips, opened his mouth, then shook his head. “Mags, I’m an asshole, okay? I’m sorry. I don’t know what else to say. I’ve been beating myself up over my own cowardice for days—for weeks. I should have told you. I should have been honest with you. I know that. If not for the fact that we’d been dating a year, then at least for the fact that you’re my sister’s best friend, and you’re one of my oldest friends, too. I hope… I hope you can forgive me. Even if you don’t want to be my friend. I just. God… Mags, I just?—”
Danny launched himself across the room and grabbed hold of me, kissing me so deeply it stole my breath momentarily. His hands moved up and down every inch of my body, and when he squeezed my breasts, I threw my head back as pleasure spilled through my core, gasping at the sudden lightning that ran across my lower abdomen.
“I’m sorry,” he said against my neck, kissing me so hard I was afraid he’d leave a hickey, “please forgive me. I’ll do anything. We’ll figure it out—you can come with me, and we’ll get everything fixed… You’re incredible. You’re?—”
Danny unclasped my bra beneath my shirt with the speed of man well practiced at the motion, and pulled my tank top and bra off, then tugged my shorts down, staring at my black panties, running his fingers reverently over the lace along my vulva. I moaned, spreading my legs to allow him further access before I even realized what I was doing. My brain was spinning. I was still hurt; still angry at him, but when he ran his fingers along the cloth over my sensitive spots, I felt a myself getting wet; practically flooding out to meet his questing hands.
“Danny,” I breathed. He cut me off with a kiss, pushing his tongue deeply into my mouth. I felt my body quivering with need. Distantly, I found myself comparing the differences in the way he and Caleb tasted… and longing for someone other than the man touching me so intimately.
Oh no… does that mean that it’s already too late…?
I realized suddenly that I knew what Carmilla was talking about when she’d mentioned that bonded partners would need someone else to feel satiated.
Another man’s touch and taste excited me… but it left me hungry… for Caleb. The eagerness in me wasn’t for the fact that I might finally be able to have sex with Danny… It was because the only thing I wanted to do now was run back upstairs, drag Caleb into the spare bedroom, and let him take me any way he wanted, as long as he wanted it.
“Fuck,” I whispered, when Danny finally let me breathe again. “I can’t already feel this way… fuck… I can’t?—”
“It’s okay, baby, I feel it too,” he said, kissing me all over, leaving me shivering. “Please—I messed up, okay? I really… really…” He moaned as he pulled my head back by my hair, exposing my throat to his wet trail of kisses.
Maybe… I closed my eyes, tried to succumb to the pleasure; maybe this would be good for me? Moving to another country with Danny and getting a fresh start could be exactly what I needed—it would get me far away from my parents—the Church—the organization.
Sure, Danny had seriously messed up, but he’d been in love with me before, so even if my aura drew him now, I already knew he’d wanted me before my demonic nature took over. I tried to picture it as he kissed me and groped me, and then I tried to shove the thoughts of Caleb out my head and just enjoy the feeling of his desire for me.
“Danny,” I whispered.
He stopped kissing me only long enough to say, “Yeah, baby?”
“Ask me to go with you. Properly ask.”
Danny stared up at me in confusion. “Go with me? Where?”
I forced a smile. “Your new job? A new country?—?”
“Oh, of course, sorry, I just assumed you would… Mags, come with me.”
While it certainly wasn’t the most romantic offer I’d ever received—Caleb’s request to let him take away my pain came first to mind—I pretended to think it over. As I was about to answer, thinking we were still engaging in playful exchanges, Danny pressed me back onto the table without warning and spread my legs, then pulled my panties over to the side with a hooked finger.
I hadn’t even realized he’d unzipped his jeans and pulled out his dick, but before I could so much as open my mouth to say another word, he’d lined himself up with my pussy, his erection straining—probably as hard as I’d ever seen him—and then grabbed my upper thighs, each of his hands on the sides of my hips, and thrust inside like he was afraid I would tell him to stop if he slowed down for even a moment.
I gasped as he entered me, reaching up behind myself and grabbing the table for support. There was no warning, no gentle motion, no thought or care for me. If I hadn’t already been so turned on by Caleb earlier, it would have likely hurt a lot more. As it was, although the sex itself felt good, it wasn’t… great. He fucked me hard, his hands holding me in place at the edge of the table. Each punishing stroke brought a guttural groan low in his throat, and Danny bent down, guiding my left nipple into his mouth with his tongue. He suckled, then grabbed my other breast with his left hand, and with his right, wrapped his arm under my back so that he could thrust as deep as possible within me with each forceful push of his hips.
The sensation of being with Danny like this—a scenario I’d often dreamt of—was drowned out by the sensation of being out of sync with him. With Caleb, the feeling of our bodies together was harmonious—a blissful give and take. But Danny’s movements almost felt like…
Like I’m not even here .
The thought struck me. I tried to pull Danny’s head from my breasts to meet his eye, so I could kiss him again; perhaps it would make me feel the connection better? But Danny drove himself into me roughly like an animalistic urge had taken over his brain entirely; he acted as if he couldn’t even see me, but each pump of him into me elicited a soft shudder as my body shook. He’d never been so rough with me before.
At first, it was exciting, but as he shoved himself into me with quick, hard, purposeful motions, I couldn’t help feeling that it wasn’t so much something he was doing with me as it was something being done to me. I could have been laying there like a limp noodle, and it wouldn’t have mattered one bit to him. He suddenly clamped down on my nipple harder, biting savagely into the tender skin.
“Danny, don’t,” I called out softly as I felt his orgasm about to burst. “Wait a second, you’re not wearing a cond?—”
He squeezed my breast until I felt an orgasm approaching, and before I could even realize what had happened, Danny moaned as he came, and the delicious feeling of his cum flowing into me was both welcoming but also strangely… not enough. A hollow sense, distantly, began to gnaw at me. I wanted more. I wasn’t nearly done.
I wanted…
Caleb.
His name almost slipped out of my mouth before I caught myself.
Danny panted as he lifted himself off me with trembling limbs. He grinned at me and kissed me before sliding himself out, pulling his pants up, and taking a seat on the chair beside the table I was still lying spread eagle on. I slid forward and snatched my clothes up quickly, irrevocably aware that we were only about a dozen feet from a plate-glass window overlooking the street. The overhead lights were off, so hopefully, no one passing by had seen what was going on, or else we might have some serious apologizing to do to Katie when the health inspector showed up after receiving an anonymous complaint about two people fucking in her dining room.
I pulled my clothes back on while Danny watched me, breathing heavily, a huge, lopsided grin on his sweaty face.
“That was… Mags, that was incredible.” He got up and came over to hug me, planting a kiss on my temple.
I hugged him back, unsure what was causing the unsettled feeling within me. Hadn’t this been what I’d wanted? To be able to be with Danny without the fear of well, everything? I’d dreamed of this moment. I could feel his cum inside of me, but it was nothing compared to…
No, no, you can’t , I reminded myself. Stop thinking about him. You don’t even know who he is. What about Danny? Haven’t you been looking forward to this moment forever?
I frowned. Then why did it feel like it had been meaningless? Spoiled, or… wasted, even?
“Danny, we need to talk about this,” I said, putting distance between us. “I mean, we just?—”
Without allowing me to finish— again— Danny interrupted me, his eyes wide.
“Oh, holy shit, that was your first time! Oh man, I didn’t even think—that was… I should have been gentler?—”
“It wasn’t,” I said, forcing calmness in my voice despite the anger simmering beneath.
Danny shook his head, confused. “Wasn’t… what?”
“My first time.”
Danny’s face changed from goofy to furious in the space of an instant. “Excuse me?”
I crossed my arms. “I had sex. On Saturday.”
Twice. And then again early this morning …
“But… how…” He glared at me. “You fucked someone, literally the night after we break up, after making me wait for a year ?”
“First of all,” I shot back, “ you broke up with me. Secondly, yes. I met someone and?—”
“Bullshit,” Danny shouted. “You didn’t mean someone at all, did you? You’ve been sleeping around on me, haven’t you? So who is it? Is that why you didn’t want to have sex with me? Satisfied yourself elsewhere like a whore?—”
My hand whipped out so quickly and landed on his cheek that the crack of skin against skin echoed in the dark café. I was breathing hard; furious. I knew my eyes were glowing purple, since I saw the glow reflected in Danny’s face. I felt it then; the first threads of how to manipulate him through my energy. I reached out mentally; connected with those threads, and took hold of his mind with my own. I was shaking with rage, but I fought the sensation down.
“Is that what you really think of me? Truth only,” I said to him, my voice a whisper.
Danny, the glow of my power shining in his eyes, answered abashedly, “No. I don’t think you’re a whore and I feel like an even bigger jackass for having said that?—”
“Forget what you said,” I whispered.
I couldn’t count the number of times I’d heard that insult from my parents’ own mouths. The fury it awakened in me was something I tried as frequently as possible to forget. I’d never told Danny or Katie about many of the horrible things they’d said and done, so there was no way he would have known about the pain it invoked.
Still, he should never have said it. To hear those words again spoken to me in anger by someone I loved was… well, it touched something in me like a live wire. Tears flowed down my cheeks.
Like the whore you are.
I touched Danny’s face, my fingers smoothing over the redness left by my palm, gently removing the evidence of the strike. “Forget you ever said those words to me. Forget I hit you. Forget that I’m crying. In fact…” I’d almost instructed him to forget we’d had sex but figured that was cruel. I didn’t want to be the only one who had to suffer with the pain of this knowledge. “Just relax; be yourself.”
Instantly back to his normal self, Danny gave me an awkward smile, then leaned forward and kissed me gently on the forehead. “It’s okay. I’m disappointed, but I don’t have the right to be angry. I know I’m an idiot for everything I put you through, Mags, and I’m glad we could have this moment together. I should never have broken up with you. I’m a dumbass, and I’ll freely admit it. I want to make it work with you. Please come with me to Canada.”
I turned around and stared at the double doors. Up those stairs, I’d have to walk in and face Katie, Carmilla… Caleb. All I wanted to do was run, but there was nowhere to go. Katie would know the moment she saw my tears that Danny had once more been a prick, but Danny wouldn’t remember being a prick, which would make her screaming at him over it all the more complicated to explain.
I wiped the tears from my face and checked my reflection in the mirror behind the cash register. It would pass—for a moment. At least until I could get to the bathroom upstairs and get my myself cleaned up, and maybe have a bit of a cry.
“There are a lot of things to consider,” I said to Danny, who was still patiently standing, awaiting my response. “I’ll think about moving with you, but we will talk later. Not tonight. Katie and I are going out, so in the meantime, please clean the tables thoroughly”—I nodded with my head to the table we’d just used as an impromptu bed moments before—“and then go home, Danny.”
“Yes, absolutely!” he said. He ran forward to kiss me again, but I slipped by him like I hadn’t realized what he wanted and hurried back up the stairs, fighting the welling pit of sorrow in my gut.