Page 90 of Crave Me

“Another headspace?”

I started. “Uh, yeah.”

He stared at me intently, looking me up and down, but far from in any sort of sexual way. No, it was completely clinical. And really fucking intense.

His gaze lingered on my hands that were trembling with the internal battle I was waging.

“What are you doing out here? Come to practice some knife throwing?”

“Practice? Cute.”

“What does—”

He tossed the knife and I swung my head to see it hurtling through the air at a crazy speed. It buried deep right on the bullseye of my final target. Jeez. He hadn’t even taken time to prepare his aim or anything. He’d just pulled that crazy shot off from instinct or something.

“Wow, okay, got it.”

He folded his arms across his chest.

It drew attention to the white dress shirt he was wearing with his black jeans. A break from his all-black look. “Is that Bastian’s?” I asked, noting the familiarity.

“Laundry day,” he answered simply. “Sebastian is closer to my size than Caspian.”

“Huh, that was nice of him. Especially considering he wasn’t exactly on board with you after what he walked in on happening between you and Caspian.”

“He’s come around. He understands it was necessary.”

“Good. The last thing we need complicating matters is animosity and bad blood.”

“Speaking of that, do you know that you’re the only one who hasn’t had an intense reaction to my presence here?”

“I guess. You’re here to help, that’s all I care about.”

“It’s more than that.”

I cocked an eyebrow.

He took a step forward. “You feel it from me.”

“Feel what?”

“That struggle. You recognized it in me right away. It’s why you didn’t see me as a threat of any sort, why you were instantly comfortable with me.” His silver eyes flamed briefly, showing me. “The struggle with the dark, sweetheart.”

The realization sank in with a jarring clarity. He was right on.

“That’s why you came out here? To talk about it? Sorry, but that’s the last thing I need to be doing.”

“I’m here to do for you what Caleb had been.”

Oh. “I don’t know about that. But I appreciate the offer.”

The corner of his mouth turned up. “You don’t need to play the polite game with me. Especially if we’re going to do this, you’ll need to show me the real you, not this walking-on-eggshells version. Now, as I’ve said, you’re not intimidated by me, so I have to put this down to you being concerned about upsetting the delicate balance that is the set of allies Caspian has assembled. You don’t want anything to hinder our ability to track down Caleb and deal with Elijah and his unfortunate ally. So much so that you’re trying to hide the fact that you aren’t doing well at the moment, that the struggle is worsening.”

“That’s why you were staring at me earlier.”

He nodded. “I ran my concerns by your loves and they agreed it would be beneficial for me to provide you with one of Caleb’s special kind of therapy sessions.”

“And you can actually do that?”

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