Page 75 of Devilish Ink

“We went toartschool together,” I grumbled, tugging my hand away. “Not medical school.”

Rian grinned. “I’m pretty sure I’ve seen more naked bodies than a doctor.”

“Just ‘cause you know how to draw them, doesn’t mean you know how to heal them,” I said, swatting away his hand.

“Exactly,” he announced victoriously. “Which is why I should take you to someone who does.”

I covered my eyes with my forearms.

“I’mfine,” I whined, desperate for him to leave me alone. “And you need to get to Eithne.”

Rian again went to feel my forehead. I hit him with a pillow.

“I swore I had a thermometer around here somewhere,” Rian said, leaving the room.

Rian didn’t know. Rian couldn’t know.

“Look,” I shouted after him, hearing him rummaging through the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. “I’m just going to guzzle some Benylin, turn up the heat, and pass out, alright? If you want to miss a date with Eithne just to catch my drool, be my guest.”

Rian appeared in the doorway, his bottom lip between his teeth, his fingers drumming against the moulding. I knew how much seeing Eithne meant to Rian. How desperately he wanted to win her back. I wasn’t hurting anyone by using that knowledge to my own means.

“Don’t let her down because your roommate has some sniffles,” I said.

Rian looked me over again. “Are you sure you—”

“Go on with yourself,” I said, interrupting. “I’ll be grand.”

Because no, I wasn’t going to be alright. No, I wasn’t grand. And no, there was not a goddamn thing he could do for me.

I needed Lee.

But he was gone. Without a trace. Without a fucking explanation.

Rian kissed my forehead, reminded me I had his number incase I needed him and made me promise to call if I needed anything.

I nodded through it all, but I knew the truth.

I was alone. As I always was. As I always would be.

The front door closed and I drew the covers back over my head. My knees drew up into my chest and I closed my eyes.

One thing was for sure: my time in Dublin needed to end. I couldn’t go on like this. It was killing me. Whether Balor had really found me or not, whether he was really following me or not, I was dying as long as I remained here.

I knew this city would break my heart.

Ironic that it would be Lee that would be the reason I left.

There was a knock at the door. I heard Lee’s voice calling out my name, faint, but I’d recognise it in my sleep.

I didn’t bother with pants. In just my thin t-shirt, I raced barefoot through the apartment, the rain on the roof sounding like the blood rushing in my ears.

I tugged open the door. My chest heaved as I stood there, staring at him.

He looked just as bad as I did. Maybe worse. Eyes somehow both dull and bright, a dog dying from a fever. His hair was matted across a pale forehead.

His shearling-lined coat looked like it had never been dry, never held a shape other than his. It clung to him, to his stooped shoulders and heavily hanging arms.

Big drops cascaded from his eyelashes, his chin, his fingertips. If I didn’t see the big sheets of rain thrashing in the wind behind him, I might have thought he was bleeding out.

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