Page 70 of Brightness

“But why wouldn’t he just come straight for you?”

“This is how he works. It’s called mind manipulation. Mess with you so you think you’re losing yourself, until your only option is to turn to him for help.”

Ivy scoffs. “What, so he expects you to just go off and join another cult with him?”

Anger swirls through me. “Oh no, sweet thing. He expects me to run it with him.”

“Mierda.”

“I’m not going to. We’re going to stop him, Ivy. The things he does to women, the things he makes them do… it’s not right.”

She reaches out, grabbing both my hands in hers. “At least you understand the difference. You’re a good man, Void.”

Regret swarms through me like a raging tornado. “Not always.”

“Not everyone can be good all the time. But the majority of the time, you do the right thing. You’re always looking out for my best interests, even if they don’t match yours.”

“You’re important to me, Ivy. I might not be great at showing it, but I… I care about you.”

She leans in and kisses me. The second her lips touch mine, calm washes over me, like all the stress I was feeling is washed away for a brief instant.

How can she be both my calm and my storm?

Ivy pulls slowly away from me, pressing her forehead against mine. “How about we go check out that library?”

I chuckle. “Yeah, baby. Let’s go check out the library.”

Here she comes, my calm against the raging storm in my mind.

Chapter Eighteen

VOID

A Few Days Later

Even though I like having Ivy to myself, she’s starting to go stir-crazy in the bungalow. There’s only so much daytime television you can watch and walks around the backyard you can take before it all starts to get a little monotonous. Sure, we’ve passed the time by fucking on every surface of the house, but again, there’s a limit to how often you can do it with someone inexperienced. The last thing I want to do is hurt her.

Going without news from home, my palms are twitchy, and I need an update. Hell, I want to find out whose heart that was. So, I pick up my burner to call Nycto, and he answers on the third ring. “What’s wrong?”

I huff. “We’re going fucking crazy out here, man. Need to know what’s happening.”

Nycto grumbles down the line. “I told you to call only if there was a problem.”

“There is a problem. Ivy’s stressed about Dash. I gotta tell her something.”

Nycto huffs. “Fine. The DNA came back… it wasn’t Dash. In fact, it wasn’t even human. Pig, just like I thought.”

“You’re fucking kidding me?”

“Nerve confirmed when he dissected it. Said while it’s similar in anatomy, it’s not the same as a human heart.”

“Well, fuck,” I murmur, running my hand through my hair. “Any word from Dash?”

“Yeah, he’s fine. Still working off his punishment. Tell Ivy he’s safe.”

Rolling my shoulders, I try to ease the tension around my neck. I hate myself, because for some warped, selfish reason, I wished it was Dash. I know he’s always going to be a part of Ivy’s life, and I can’t control myself. I’m a jealous cunt. It’s simple. I don’t want any guy taking space in Ivy’s mind but me.

“Void?”

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