Page 33 of Demise

With that, he hangs up the phone.

Fuck.

My eyes swing to Skyla, a foreboding feeling settling in. I don’t like her around him. I don’t like the way he looks at her, the way he talks to her, and I don’t like that I never have any idea what he’s up to. It’s like playing chess with only half a board. How areyou supposed to play the game if you can’t see the moves your opponent is making?

“What’s wrong?” Skyla asks as she looks over to me.

“My dad called. We’re going to dinner, and he wants us to bring Stephanie.”

She frowns at that. “Stephanie won’t agree. You’re kidding, right? She’s terrified of him.”

Stephanie isn’t the only one who is terrified of him. I see the fear in Skyla’s eyes, the memories of the last time she was in his house, in his presence. I won’t let him hurt her, though. Not again.

I nod. “It’s not like we have a choice, princess.”

She opens her mouth before closing it.

“I know.”

The drive to pick up Stephanie is quiet. Skyla called her and asked if she wanted to go to dinner with us. She wasn’t overly excited about me coming, but she agreed, nonetheless. We did leave out the location and extra company that would be there, but that’s only because we knew she wouldn’t come if we did. I also knew it wouldn’t be good for either of us if we showed up without her.

Skyla is texting on her phone, wearing a pinched look of concern as she taps on the screen.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

She jerks like she forgot I was here for a moment before she looks up at me.

“Vincent. I haven’t been able to get a hold of him since he left yesterday. I’m worried. He was really upset with me.”

“Why?” I ask.

Her teeth chew on the inside of her lip for a moment before she releases it.

“Because he was vulnerable with me, he told me that you killed Nathaniel and I…didn’t believe him.”

Warmth fills my chest at that. I know that for Skyla’s sake, I should at least tolerate Griggs, but it feels good to know that if it came down to the two of us, she’d take my side.

“It’s not that I didn’t believe him, I do, or I could, I guess,” she continues, diminishing my happiness by the second. “I just didn’t respond the right way, and he was so angry. He doesn’t open up, ever, not even with me…I blew it.”

I reach over and rest my hand on her knee, squeezing it gently.

“You didn’t blow anything. That guy doesn’t just love you; he lives you. You’re the air in his lungs, the earth beneath him. You’re not just his whole world; you’re all of the worlds. You’re his entire universe, princess. One disagreement will not tear you two apart. Trust me, if that’s all it took, I would have instigated something between you two months ago.”

She doesn’t laugh like I hoped she would. Then again, tension breaking humor is more Liam’s specialty than mine.

“I just hate that I hurt him. I want to apologize.”

“Don’t worry about it, really. I’m sure he’s following us like the fucking creeper he is just to keep an eye on you. He’s not far.”

She looks out the window longingly, and it actually hurts something inside me. Not because she’s longing for another, but because she’s unhappy because he isn’t here. I’m tempted to hunt the motherfucker down and drag him by his toes all the way to our house just so I can throw him at her feet like some sort of offering.

We pull up to Stephanie’s place, a new flash of guilt passing across Skyla’s face as she slides in the car.

“Hi, sweetheart,” she smiles at Skyla. “Asher,” she greets me curtly.

“Stephanie,” I respond.

“Frigid in here,” Skyla drawls sarcastically.

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