Page 40 of By the Pint

“WHAT?!” I screamed. My mind reeled, connected all the pieces. “No. Wait—What?!”

A telekinetic!

“You’re a fucking telekinetic?!”

Dima’s grin wavered.Oh, no.He had lowered his barriers. Whether intentionally or not, I didn’t know, but I saw myself in his thoughts. My face red. My fists and jaw clenched. Anger practically radiating off me like heat from a car bonnet.

The mirrored image was not enough to calm me. “All this time! I thought I was shit. But you were cheating! All this fucking time!”

I launched myself at him. But losing the element of surprise, Dima tossed his club aside, turned on his tail, and ran first.

I gave chase. Jumping over little faux rivers and dodging under bridges and around fence posts and flagpoles and fibreglass dinosaurs. What even was the theme of this mini golf course, anyway? Dima giggled all the way like a schoolboy playing kiss chase. My legs were longer than his, but he was a vampire and could have put miles between us in seconds if he wanted to. He obviously didn’t want to. The gap between us narrowed even more as I leapt over a baby triceratops and slid under the belly of a woolly mammoth.

And as I ran, my irritation eased. Flaked away like paint chips in the wind. Giving way to …

No, it couldn’t be.

Urgh, it fucking was.

Joy. I was feeling joy. Laughing too.

My fingers brushed the gilt fabric of Dima’s cloak. I closed my fist, seized the material, and spun him around, just as he was about to dart past the huge hole eighteen volcano.

I slammed him against the fibreglass volcano wall, one forearm bridged along the top of his chest. My breaths came out in pants between us.

“You’re really fast. For a human.” He made to shuck me off, but I pinned his hips with mine.

I wanted to yell at him, but my words, and my thoughts, became trapped. Everything around us dropped away, and just like before, it was only him and me.

All I saw were his eyes, red and intense, boring straight into mine. All I smelled was the heavy smoky, metallic scent of him as I dragged in each ragged breath. All I felt was his body flattened against mine. The waistband of his trousers cutting in just below mine. The soft, bumpy knit of his jumper on my ribs. His icy hands cupping my triceps.

His dimples were absent, I noticed. Because he was no longer grinning. His lips parted. I wanted to close the gap between our mouths. To force his smile back.

Please don’t kiss me, he said, so quietly I wasn’t sure at first that I’d heard him correctly.It’s hard enough to resist you.

I closed my eyes for one, two seconds.

I’m sorry. I pushed off him, allowed myself another second to take in everything that was Dima, and ran back to my room.

13.

Dima

I paused outside of Casey’s room. Just long enough to make sure he was inside, not smashing things up in anger. He wasn’t, but he was thinking about me. His thoughts drifted through the door.

Fucking coward lied again.

I didn’t wait around to hear the rest. Instead, I stepped into my room. I’d already fucked up. Taken what little trust he’d had in me and shat all over it. Again. I’d seen every trigger of his and used each one against him, winding the cog so tightly there was nowhere else for it to go. I’d pushed him too far.

He needed control. Needed to be the best. Needed to prove himself to me. And I made sure none of that happened. I made him feel like a child.

When the Constellations Manor was built, I’d asked the developers to put a sheet of steel between the walls that connected my room to Casey’s. At the time, I’d presumed there would be honeymooners in the suite. The metal barrier helpedto block the sounds and thoughts. Now, I was thankful I couldn’t hear his brooding.

Not that it stopped me from being curious. But I wouldn’t go out onto the balcony. I would stay here, with my own fucking thoughts, like I deserved.

Casey deserved privacy. And I had been, yet again, a total ass wipe.

He probably hated me by now. Good. That would be better, make things easier. I couldn’t get involved with him. I already liked him too much for my own good.

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