Page 102 of Sick Bargain

“I asked if you would be mine even if you were free, and then I freed you.”

“With a calling card.”

I smirk and shrug out of my jacket. “If anyone is a coward, Remiel, it’s you.”

“Why?”

“Because you still choose death over me.” I pull my t-shirt off, and Remiel’s eyes drop to the burn on my chest. “You almost embraced it. The night you took that pill. Last night, when you confronted me under Axel’s control. And today, just now, when you lay down inside a mountain to give up.”

“Not give up,” he states, transforming his music into something new and dismal. “Accept. It’s fate.”

“Is it?” I undo my pants.

“My fate. A fate I am trusting you to overpower.” Remiel smiles at my hands and keeps playing. “Only you would be powerful enough to challenge fate, Krypt. Are you going to?”

It’s his way of admitting he wants to live and that he wants me to control him. It’s perfect. “Iamfate. Your fate.”

“Yet you freed me.”

I kick my boots off. “And you choose me anyway.”

“I did,” he agrees.

“But when I almost killed you, that’s what really sealed our fate.” I push my pants over my ass and hips. “Because you stopped me.”

He looks away from the bulge in my boxer-briefs to study my eyes. It clicks with him, and he plays a little softer when he figures it out. “Ah, so now you trust me? Now that you know I’m not tricking you into killing me.”

I step out of my pants, barely feeling the chilled air against my heated skin. “Two weeks ago, Axel Graves hypnotized me. Honestly, I think I let him because I wanted to know what was hiding in my mind.”

Remiel stiffens, not liking that someone took control of me. We still haven’t talked about my time away, and if I get my way, we won’t until I’ve slept. “What was hiding?”

“You, I think. He videotaped the session, and your name was the only one that ever came out. What do you live for, Krypt?Remiel. What do you dream of, Krypt?Remiel. What do you fear most, Krypt?Remiel.What would you die for, Krypt?Remiel.”

Remiel’s fingers slip on the fingerboard, but he corrects them as his eyes soften. “What do you want, Krypt?” he carries on the line of questioning.

Him. Not much else.

“He dug deeper, trying to get me to admit any other desire. He found all sorts of personality traits and learned a lot about how I’d react to a situation, but he never got another name.” Irun my fingers through my hair and look into his eyes. “Just you, Remiel. Because it hasn’t been long, but obsession works fast. Love is obsession, and obsession is the point of my life. To own and possess my obsession, to do what you said that night on my bed.Love is caring enough about someone to know what they need and wanting to give it to them.” I wet my lips. “I know what you need, and I want to give it to you. Even if you hate me for it.”

“Krypt.”

“Yes,” I agree. “Krypt and Remiel. That’s our fate.” I turn my back to him and let him look. Because not all my time at Axel’s bunker was horrible. I found out what means the most to me, and it’s not Remiel. It’sme and Remiel. Krypt and Remiel. And I marked my body for him.

My Vile House tattoo has always been a source of pride, but my gifted name under the skeleton’s jaw was the source of my true accomplishment. I became Krypt and finally felt like myself. Now, Remiel’s name sits with mine because he is not only my source of pride, but my source of liberation. He is love. He is obsession. He is mine, and I am his, and not even death, fate, or a fucking suicide curse will tear us apart.

Remiel is life.Krypt and Remielis the only future I want.

His cello clatters to the stone floor, and his bow follows. I don’t look, but I sense his approach. Hesitantly, his fingertips touch my skin. The tattoo is still healing, but I come to life under his touch. It spurs a buried need and morphs into something dangerous, but the rightness of it is so apparent that I close my eyes to appreciate the choice. Remiel Sauder walked into Vile House and became the driving force ofme.

“I’m… you… this is… Krypt?” Tears choke his voice and turn it squeaky.

I turn, grabbing his outstretched hand. “My love is dangerous, Remiel.” I tilt his chin and watch him cry. “I warned you.”

“I want it anyway,” he says, crying harder. “I want itandI need it. I need you.”

No, he doesn’t, but I’m selfish enough to appreciate that he thinks he does. I sure as shit need him, but I’ll never tell him that. There is so much yet to come. A dangerous life with Reaper Corp trying to take over, truths to tell him about his mom and his brain, and lessons to teach him about life and what it means to live it with me. They’ll all come in time.

Tonight, I want to fucking possess him.

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