Page 105 of Possess Me! (I Want You To)

Beside him were two tiny blurry figures. One with pigtails, the other barely more than a snot-nosed toddler.

The chime above the door dinged a third time as I heard Luca’s voice again.

“Next time I’m in town you owe me that burger!” He called cheerfully. His flirting didn’t make me angry, not when he was only doing it for our benefit. Though, it did make me curious. How young had he been when he’d learned he could get what he wanted by fluttering his lashes and showing off his sexy ass? I didn’t like it. I didn’t like thinking about the kid in that picture doing what my very adult, very capable companion had just done.

I shoved the stolen photograph into my jean pocket, hidden away from the rest of our goods as Luca spotted me and jumped a half foot in the air.

“Jee-sus.” He huffed with a laugh. “You spooked me.” A rakish grin split across his cheeks when he realized the joke he’d just made.

“C’mon.” Luca jerked his head toward the street and I followed him, feeling a little dazed, his picture burning a hole through my pocket.

Who…was he?

I was dying to find out more, but I bit my tongue. Now wasn’t the time. I’d let him eat first.

And then…well. Then I’d get what I wanted.

After gathering our abandoned backpack and stuffing it full of our bounty, we headed into the woods again. My hoodie still smelled like Prudence, and I surreptitiously tucked my nose into the collar as we walked, soaking him up. Leather. Smoke. Musk.

This time as we traveled we trailed parallel to the road, following the loops and curves of the switchbacks out of sight. Diving between tree trunks, and dodging wayward branches, we chased the last rays of afternoon sunlight.

The sun would set soon.

When we’d gotten far enough away we were sure we couldn’t be followed should the cashier discover our deceit, we paused for a few minutes to feed the demon my stomach had become. I was so hungry I could hardly see straight as I pulled out the giant pack of Oreos Prudence had grabbed, and raised an eyebrow at him.

“Typical,” I deadpanned, in that exact same way he had when I’d told him my safeword what felt like a million years ago.

Prudence glared at me. “They’re high calorie and were easy to grab.”

“Uh huh. That’s why you grabbed them,” I nodded slowly. “Not because they’re your favorite thing ever or anything.” I waved a cookie at him enticingly, but he batted my hand away with an angry huff.

“I don’t want any.”

“You are a giant fucking liar, Pru-Pru.” I waggled the cookie under his nose, ignoring the ache in my legs as I crouched over the backpack. His nostrils flared dangerously. Bear meet stick.

Instead of batting my hand away a second time, Prudence latched on to my wrist. His grip was soft as he pushed my hand back toward me, his blue eyes flickering. “Eat, Luca.” He said, in a tone that—if you squinted—might’ve been considered gentle. “I got the food for you.”

“But—”

He shook his head at me, his jaw flickering with tension.

“I don’t know the next time I’ll be able to get you food.” Admitting this only seemed to piss him off, and it struck me suddenly, that it really really bothered him. The fact that he couldn’t provide for me, or fix the mess we were in. It wasn’t his job to take care of me. I’d never asked him to do that—which meant the only logical reason he wanted to was that…

Shit.

Did Prudence…care about me?

“I’ll eat them,” I hurried to reassure, shell-shocked when I saw the infinitesimal droop of his shoulders, like he’d been prepared to fight me for this. “Okay?” I promised, and he nodded.

“I’m going to check the road.”

“Okay, sure.” I watched him go, still amazed as he just—fucking yeeted himself through the trees, phasing through them rather than wasting time dodging between. Perks of being a ghost, right?

I sniffed at my collar happily again as I tucked into the packaged goods with reckless abandon. It barely took me five minutes to get through almost the entire pack of Oreos. I stared at the last, lone cookie, my stomach flipping as I licked chocolate crumbs from my lips.

Prudence would’ve been angry if I left him half the package like I wanted to.

But surely…one was okay?

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