Page 74 of Death is My Ride or Die

“Don’t act like you aren’t the cause of this whole situation, because you are,” I said, burning everywhere. “You’re two thousand plus years old and can’t handle basic emotions. So don’t callmechildish.”

His lip twitched in a brief snarl.

“You’re not perfect either,” I went on. “You certainly don’t have all the answers, andyou,” I added, daring to move into him, my tongue dripping with venom, “you havefearstoo. Or else you would have your precious scythe back by now. Whatever is going on with me, I’ll figure it out by myself. You’re the last person I want help from.”

I strode past him with every intention of leaving, but the room spun.

Death wrapped his arm around me before I could fall, and my heart fluttered as he hoisted me up onto his bed. “I couldn’t hear you,” Death said, growling the words through his fangs. His hands were firm on my waist, his body standing between my legs. “You called out to me. Then you shut me out, and I couldn’t feel you through the bond. I feltnothing. Don’t do that ever again, Faith. Next time something awful is happening to you, you keep up those walls, and you keep calling out my name. No matter how much you hate me. Swear it.”

The way his hands clung to me. The hoarse drop in his voice, the concern in his eyes. It was a rare glimpse of humanity, and I was stunned.

Was it possible he cared?

“All you do is lie to me and play mind games until you create massive rifts in my trust,” I whispered. “You didn’t tell me Marcy was safe until it was convenient foryou. And you wonder why I keep my secrets?”

“Swear it, Faith.”

“Fine,”I said, utterly exhausted. “Fine, I won’t shut you out again. You’re not going to punish Leo for what happened, are you?”

Death’s features shifted and grew colder. “Leo is the incarnation of envy. He wants what he can’t have.”

“You didn’t answer the question.” I slid off the bed, and the dizziness didn’t follow this time. All I could feel was the pain in my jaw from clenching my teeth. The burn in my stomach. A hunger so relentless, it made me want toharm. When I stepped toward Death, those sensations only intensified, and he took a step back. “You’re jealous.”

“Faith,” Death warned in a low gruff, “get out of my face—”

I clutched his shirt to keep him in place, and his menacing glare promised violence. “You’rejealousthat I spent time with Leo and the rest of the Seven.”

Death ran his tongue over his teeth with a dark laugh. “You are getting some real heavy iron balls on you, cupcake.”

“Deny it.”

Darkness consumed us both.

We manifested across the room. My breath caught as he slammed me to the wall beside the bed, stealing my breath away. “I have nothing to deny,” he growled. “If you knew what goes on in my head when you’re around. If you were brave enough to cross into the shadows of my twisted mind, you’d see. I have no competition.”

Death moved his lips down the column of my throat. “Because any man can make you laugh,” he whispered in a velvet-clad voice, my pulse pounding as his bottom lip brushed my bare skin. “Any man can tell you all the sweet, romantic folly you think you need, but none of them can shake the ground beneath your feet. None of them could go against nature for you. Shift a storm, darken the moon, beckon the night.” His tongue traced the sensitive part of my ear, sending chills down my back. “Make you feel so good being very, very bad . . . ”

It took everything in me to move out from his grasp, and when I did, Death’s seductive expression easily shifted to boredom, like a lazy cat that had had all its fun anyway. Still, I could feel his warm presence lingering against my skin even as he slowly slunk toward the bed. He lazed back against the mattress, a strand of black hair falling over his forehead, and leered at me from beneath thick lashes.

A villain’s open invitation.

“Good night, Death.”

His mouth curved. “Sweet nightmares, cupcake.”

I walked out of his bedroom and into mine. The bedside lamps were on, and a black box secured with beautiful black ribbon lay on my bed. I felt lame that my heart fluttered just at the sight.

I ran my fingers over the silken ribbon. I glanced over my shoulder. Death lingered in the doorway, his mouth slightly parted with words he never said. He stared down at the present in my hands in blank surprise.

“Is this from you?” I asked.

Death went quiet, but those mismatched eyes darted to mine.

He vanished into smoke.

“Okay,” I said to the empty room. What the heck was happening?

A minute or so later, Death reappeared. His cheeks were slightly flushed, and his hair was sticking up. Like he’d run his hand through it. In his fist, he held a folded piece of paper.

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