Page 92 of The Spider & the Storm

Dammit, NO. I like her. I fuckinglikeher, and any normal guy who likes a woman would just go and see her, so fuck it.

I turned the key in the ignition, and even as my brain screamed obscenities and every single imaginable reason why this was the worst idea I’d ever had, I tried to believe for a second that I was anormal guywith a normal past and didn’t stop driving until I reached Salem Skin.

***

“Hey! What can I help you with?”

The girl at the counter was cute. Petite, dusted in freckles, and dressed up in a Winnie the Pooh costume. Some might consider her choice of outfit to be lame, especially given her occupation and the fact that the whole place was heavily laden in gothic decor and black paint, but that only made her sunshiny disposition and costume that much more ironic.

If I could’ve pulled myself from the task at hand long enough to compliment her, I probably would have.

“Is Stormy here?”

She smiled cheerfully and nodded as she began pulling a clipboard from beneath the counter. “Yep! She’s with a client right now, but if you’ll fill this—”

“I really just want to talk to her,” I interrupted, trying my hardest not to sound like a crazed maniac.

“Oh! Well”—she laid the clipboard onto the countertop—“if you’ll just wait here, I’ll let her know you’re here for a consult—”

“No. I’m just here totalk.” I emphasized the last word, my patience growing thinner as the seconds ticked on by.

The young girl seemed unsure now, wringing her mittened Winnie the Pooh gloves together and eyeing me warily, like she wasn't sure if she should do as I’d asked or call the cops.

“Um … okay, well, uh … who should I say is here?”

“Spider.”

The girl narrowed her eyes, studying me with even more suspicion before saying, “Just wait here, okay?”

I nodded before she quickly disappeared through a black velvet curtain. I smirked to myself, unable to believe the stupid nickname had fallen from my lips so easily. It made me think about Luke and his own ridiculous nickname.Zero. God, it had been forever since I'd even thought of that stupid name. It had been so dumb, but the guy had used it anyway with more pride than he ever should’ve had.

Zero. I huffed a laugh and shook my head.Always such a moron.

My momentary confidence wilted to make room for a deep, pulsing pain. He might've been a moron, but, fuck, did I ever miss him. I missed him more than I missed anyone or anything, even my parents and Melanie and the innocence I'd known for only a brief stint of time.

We were supposed to be together now. We'd been all each other had for years, and it was meant to remain that way until we were old men. But he was there, back in Connecticut, locked away behind bars of steel and walls of concrete, and I was here.

Alone and pretending I deserved to be anything but.

I should be with him.

I should be exiled and left to rot too.

Don’t forget that Halloween night five years ago.

Don’t forget the knife. The blood.

Shit. I glanced toward the door, wondering if it was too late to make a quick getaway. The girl dressed as Winnie the Pooh was already back there, telling Stormy I was here, but was I really in any position now to talk to her when my brain was on a warpath and my heart was on the brink of combustion?

Then, there was a smoky voice behind me.

“Charlie?”

My head lifted at the sound of my name. My lungs filled with a deep breath, slow and controlled. The beating of my heart was lulled into a calmer pace, the jittering of my veins and fingers relaxed. My soul felt lighter as my shoulders slumped with the weight of impossible grief and guilt.

I turned to face her and swallowed as I took in the sight of her in a formfitting, long-sleeved, ankle-length black dress, nearly knocking me on my ass.

Stormy’s eyes met mine with a gentle smile, but when I opened my mouth to speak, another woman passed through the velvet curtain.

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