Page 90 of Soul Food

“Man?” I frowned.

Michonne was the one that winked this time. “Don’t pretend. We’ve seen the gossip of you and Black Hearts’s president. It only confirmed it when he visited us himself to wager a deal—you singing on our show for access to any new artists on the horizon.” She eyed The Oppressors. “Your friends are going to be as big as you. Just wait.”

“I was surprised over the song—hauntingly beautiful but nothing like your usual style. It was nice to hear something different.” Sammy laughed. “Never thought I’d see a rapper sing a slow rock song. Your voice is golden.”

“See ya, girl,” Michonne let go of my shoulder and left with Sammy.

My smile faltered as they turned away. Why would the soul reaper give so much right before he was about to take it all?

“Why the absent look on your face?” Liam stepped beside me.

I sighed. “Oh, nothing.”

“Doesn’t seem like nothing,” Steve said behind me.

“Do you want a cookie?” Pete asked.

I squinted my eyes. “Why? You got one?”

His mouth flattened. “Nah, but I hear it does a woman good to have chocolate when lovesick.”

My heart skipped a beat. “I’m not—”

Liam grabbed my hand and tipped the corner of his mouth up on one side. “Your song is dark and full of feelings of being betrayed, but it’s also heartbreaking. You’re yearning and hating him at the same time.”

“I am not.” Perspiration coated my forehead while desperation clawed at my chest.

Liam surprised me with what he said next. “Ruth, let him in.”

“How can you say that? You know who he is—what he wants.” Pain clogged my throat as I refused to get emotional.

“And I hate the demon,” Liam spat. “But you’re not food to him. I’ve watched him enough to know you’ve never been food to him, even if he hasn’t always known it.”

“Don’t confuse me,” I shoved Liam aside as I hurried away from the three of them. They hated the soul reaper like I did, but now they were telling me to accept my want for him?

Unbelievable.

Yet, my fingers inched closer and closer to my phone the moment Jayne greeted me backstage with my things. “You were amazing,” she complimented me, but I was only vaguely aware of her words. I was too focused on my phone and the awful urge to call his cell phone. A cell phone in which I knew my number was the only personal contact outside of the company. Now it made complete sense for him to have no numbers stored in his phone. As far as I knew the only friend he had was Lars.

Was Lars all he had?

“I wonder if he watched?” I looked up from my phone to ask Jayne.

Her entire demure was sad as she lifted my hand up that held my phone. “Why don’t you call and see?” Whatever expression I wore had her saying, “I don’t know what happened between you two. You won’t tell me, but you look like you miss him or something.”

Feeling more worn down than ever before, I nodded. “I’ll just text him...” I let myself think on it before I changed my mind and turned my phone off. “I’m not going to.”

“Are you sure?” She frowned. I nodded. “Okay. Do you want to grab Chinese?” She waggled her brows, which brought an easier smile out of me.

“Yeah.”

As we walked out of the building, I told myself holding onto who I was, was better than giving into the person I was slowly becoming. My attention was on where I was stepping when Jayne nudged my shoulder. “Ruth.” I looked up and made eye contact with the soul reaper standing in front of us.

“Did you come to see Ruth?” Jayne asked him.

He never looked her way as he took me in. I didn’t notice the bags under his eyes or the stubble on his cheeks. I didn’t notice how human he looked as he stole the air from my lungs. I had no choice but to look back down at my heels because within the few days I hadn’t seen him, the anger dulled into a sharp pain in my chest.

“Do you mind if I take her away from you?” he asked Jayne, but his focus was on me.

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