Page 58 of Absentia Mori

My belly flutters as tingles sweep through my core. I swallow hard as I look up at Mordecai. His dark brown eyes are haunting, sharp, piercing through me like fire to my ice.

He reaches for my hand, and I give it to him. “You’re not alone anymore, Lib. You’re ours.Mine. Whether you like it or not… there is no getting rid of us.”

I choke back tears. When did I get so fucking soppy? Fuck. “I like it,” I murmur.

Our entrance into the bar causes a stir of whispers and sideways glances for about sixty seconds. Then just as I expected, the riff-raff of Angel’s Trumpet go back to minding their own fucking business.

The four of us slide into a corner booth away from curious gazes. I sink back into the cracked vinyl, grateful. Relieved.Safe. For now, anyway. We have a lot to unpack. A lot to work out. Itwasn’t that long ago that they wanted to punish me for the sins of my father and Nocturnus. Every time I look at their scars, I’m sickened that all of this happened because of me.

Raithe lost a fucking eye because of the choices I made.

My stomach growls as I glance over the menu. I order a double cheeseburger with fries and a double shot of whiskey.

The three of them stare at the menu, their gazes blank.

“Can’t decide?” the server asks them. She taps her pen against her notepad.

I realize that the three of them were trapped in the asylum much longer than me. A fact I neglected to remember in the throes of my ravenous hunger.

“Give us a few more minutes,” I order. I wince as soon as I hear my own tone. Regardless of the change in me, I’ve lived a life of privilege since the day I was born. It’s going to take some time before I stop bossing people around.

Fabien licks his cracked lips. “I don’t remember what I like to eat. Isn’t that fucked up?”

My heart sinks. “Maybe try something you’ve never had then,” I nudge.

Raithe leans back and sighs. “How are we paying for this?”

I hold up my new garbage bag purse. “My wallet is miraculously still in here with all the cash I had the night I was taken.” I don’t mention the rolled-up hundred-dollar bill that’s in there, still dusted with cocaine.

Mordecai presses his shoulders back against the vinyl. “We’ll pay you back.”

I wave him off. “It’s my father’s money, not mine. Let him fucking pay for our first meal. It’s the least he can do.”

That seems to put them more at ease. The server comes back, and they each order the same thing as me.

Other than the whimpering sounds we make as we devour our burgers and fries, we eat mostly in silence. Every bite tasteslike heaven. I feel my strength returning, my resolve to reenter society again. I feel less like a lab rat and more human with each second that ticks by.

After we scarf everything down, I ask for a piece of chocolate cake and the check.Sweet treats for violent deeds.

“We need showers and a good night’s sleep before we deal with Nocturnus and your friend Maureen,” Mordecai states, his voice raspy from the whiskey.

I nod as I shovel another massive bite of cake into my eager mouth. They watch me, waiting for me to swallow it down. In the asylum, the energy was chaotic. I didn’t realize how attentive they are until now in this new environment.

“My brother, Aries, has an apartment here in town. He only stays in it when he comes to visit me… It will be empty. We can stay there tonight.” Aries has no reason to come to Raven’s Gate since he thinks I’m dead.

We all agree, and the guys head outside as I hang back to finish paying the check. I slip the rolled-up hundred-dollar bill into the server’s hand. “Don’t tell anyone I was here.”

No one could’ve predicted the three of us lot spending the night in style with Libra fucking Thorn. I would have laughed in their face and called them crazy.

I’ve watched her from the shadows for so long, loathing her every move. Blaming her for the cards I was dealt. Of course, I always thought she was hot, but the narrative I let myself believe about her turned me off.

Until that day she attacked me in the asylum gym. Her fire got my dick so fucking hard I struggled to separate the Libra I was hired to keep an eye on and the Libra I wanted to thrust my cock into. The longer I’m around her, the more I want to know every inch of her. Inside and out.

I don’t think Fabien ever hated her. I had to mop up his drool every time she walked by us in the halls of Tenebrose. Even after what happened on the night of the Winter Solstice Ball, Fabien was excited to tell us she’d been admitted to the asylum.

Raithe is just indifferent. If I wanted him to hate her, he did. We’ve only had each other in this life. We kept each other alive in the poison fields and watched each other’s backs in Absentia. But I saw it in his eyes when I walked in on him and Libra that first day. He wanted her so fucking bad. I think we were always destined to end up like this—fucked up, unhinged, and obsessed with each other.

I won’t ever let her get away from us now. I’ll kill her before I let anyone else have her.

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