Page 511 of Dark Love

“Dahl, you could have kissed me any time you wanted for weeks now.”

“I’ve only known you for weeks—Oh. Oh.” That means I can do it again and again.

His fingers tighten in my hair, moving my head towards his as he leans down again.

This, I could get used to.

***

“So, are we going to find out who the killer is in this book?” Vex fiddles with a lock of my hair while turning the page of the book I gave him.

“No. There are four more books in this series.”

“Four? You’re going to need to start writing faster. I don’t want to wait a year to find out who did it?”

I sit up and glare at him. “Readers. You give ‘em a book, and they want four more in the blink of an eye.”

“Yup. So, are you going to hurry up and get it done for me?”

Incorrigible man. “Well, if I give up sleeping at night, it’s possible that I could get it done a month or two earlier.”

“Or you could quit your job answering phones and just write.”

Financially, I could do that. “That job is the only thing that gets me out of the house.”

“I know, Dahl.” He shifts up so that now we’re both sitting instead of sprawled across the couch. “But you’d have so much more time to write.”

“No, Vex.” Why does his name grate on my nerves sometimes? “You don’t understand. If I didn’t go to work, I’d never leave the house.”

“So? You’d be safe. Have plenty of work to keep you occupied. And always be free to spend time with me.”

There’s a lot to unpack in that. Is all of this about him wanting me to be safe? Or to spend all my time with him. “No, you don’t understand. I won’t leave the house.”

His brow furrows. “Help me understand, Dahl.”

How do I explain this without telling him everything? “Before I got this job and moved to Urbium, I lived in my parent’s guest house.”

“Okay?”

“It wasn’t because I couldn’t afford to move out. It was because I never wanted to go out. Ever. I didn’t have agoraphobia, but I could have seen it getting to that point.”

“Dahl.” He reaches out and strokes my cheek.

“So when I say I need this job, I need this job.”

“Then you’ll keep the job… For now.”

Stubborn man. “Oh, really?”

“Because at some point, hopefully in the near future, you’re not going to need that crutch. You’ll be just fine going out with me or your friends whenever you feel like it. Not because you have to punch a clock for some job.”

What a beautiful thing to say. He believes I have more strength than I do. How can people think he’s a monster? His name doesn’t help. “What’s your real name?”

Vex blinks twice. “That’s a big jump. One of these days, I’m going to understand how your mind works.”

That would be one of us that does. “Vex?”

“I can’t tell you that, Dahl.”

---