Page 86 of The Duplicity of Thieves

I head over to the bar cart and pour her a heavy drink. She takes it without looking at me and swallows the entire thing. I wonder if anyone has ever assessed her needs. It doesn’t seem like it. Does Josie take what she wants? I believe so, but there's a part of her that hasn’t been touched. She told me whoever killed this Kate person wants to kill her.

She whirls on me. “Why didn’t you show me the scars before?”

“I was afraid.”

“Why?” she scoffs, gripping the glass.

“The same reason you don’t show yours. No one has ever seen them before. Only my parents.” Josie reaches over and trails them with her fingertip again, and I shudder. “Feels good,” I murmur. This time she doesn’t stop.

“They’re the same as Pandora’s box.”

“They are,” I confirm.

Josie sinks to the floor onto the plush rug. She leans against the glass wall, putting her back to the city. “Is that why you want me?”

I wasn’t expecting her to ask that. I didn’t notice hers the first few times I saw her. They’re irrelevant to how I feel, just another piece to the puzzle of the Fates. I sink down next to her, extending my legs and stealing a sip from her cup.

“No. I didn’t know you had them until the day it rained. When we…When…You know. It was an act of the Fates for you and I to meet.”

“You believe in the Fates?” Her voice is soft, and curiosity burns in her eyes.

“I believe in Destiny, too.” I look away from her. The vulnerable way she sits next to me makes me want to snatch her up, but I know she would hate that.

“Is there a difference?”

“Fate is like a meeting. It was fate to meet you at the pub. Destiny is what happens after.”

“That makes sense,” she acquiesces.

“You are more than a conquest,” I tell her, opening myself up. It’s true.

“You don’t know me.” She rolls her eyes. “If you want to have sex just say that. You don’t have to listen to my pity party to get it.”

“Josie, Josie, Josie.” I shake my head. “You don’t understand. I’m waiting for you. My whole life I’ve been waiting for you.”

There it is, laid out in the space between us.

“You don’t mean that.”

“I mean every bit of it. I’m infatuated with you. Obsessed. Compulsive for you. I’m addicted. I’m in love with your atmosphere, and the way you manage to tell me to fuck off in so many ways that it’s infuriating. I would make any deal with you. I would agree to spend an eternity in Tartarus if it meant that I could have five more minutes with you. I’m hopelessly pining after you. I don’t need to know your favorite fucking color to know that. I’ll fuck you every day if it means that you come back.”

She stares at me as if I’ve hit her. “I…”

“You don’t have to say anything, love. It’s not a requirement to get what you want from me. I’ll give it freely. No questions asked. You can trust me.”

Telling her lifts a massive weight from my soul. I’ll give her the world and then some. I’ve practically told her I love her without stringing those three words together.

“The last boy that loved me…He died,” she stammers.

“I would die for you, too,” I agree. The look on her face goes from stricken to horrified, but she doesn’t make a move to leave.

“But why? I’m difficult. I’m violent. I-”

“Let me stop you, Jos. Whoever told you those things is right. You’re also chaotic. You are all those things. I’m not going to argue that you aren’t. If that’s what you want me to do, I won’t. To me, those things are what draw me to you.”

“I came here because I…I don’t know. I was compelled to. I can’t go home because…I didn’t know where I was going and found myself here.” She looks at the empty glass in her hands instead of at me.

“I’m glad you did. You can stay as long as you want.”

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