Page 29 of Love's Ace

Chapter 12

Theo

“Theo?” I’d started towonder if he’d silently snuck out of the hotel room while I wasn’t looking. Even though I’d sat with our fingers entwined for what felt like hours, I’d eventually pulled away and dropped my body onto the bed like I’d never move again.

It was ridiculous, the sense of calm that poured through me holding his hand, especially when I couldn’t see him. I could just close my eyes and concentrate on the cool sensation pooling through my body, and for a while it was like years melted away. All the pain, the anger, the agony that tore through me on a daily basis was just… gone.

And it was all because Wren didn’ttakemy hand—he let me touch him. He let me lead. Even though he made it clear he wanted to kill me, even though he made it clear he hated everything I was becoming…

I felt safe.

In control.

I felt like I could breathe.

Which was exactly why I’d pulled away and threw myself on the bed. It wasn’t a sensation I could allow myself to get used to. We were going to figure out how to sever the thread between us, and Wren would either try to kill me, or he’d disappear out of my life just as suddenly as he’d shown up. Honestly, a small part of me wondered if I was still wrapped up in some kind of fucked-up fever dream on the street, high on a trip gone sour.

I raised my hand up to look at it—the lines of our palms were a perfect match. In my other hand, the feather that had fallen between us was a velvety reminder that nothing aboutanyof this was normal.

“Theo?” This time his voice was closer. Wren moved to stand in the doorway separating us like some invisible barrier that he couldn’t cross. His hands stretched out to press against either side of the frame as he looked me up and down. At least I had the sense to tuck the feather I’d kept into my pocket before I pushed myself into a sitting position.

“What?” Apparently a few minutes of hand-holding couldn’t make me sound any less like an asshole when I answered him, but Wren seemed to brush it off.

“We need to get food, and maybe a change of clothes for you. I…” His brows knitted together, and he glanced at the thread trailing between us. “I think you should come with me.”

It was still unspoken—the way I’d felt when there’d been windows and doors and space between us before… how it had slowly started to let that fire penetrate back into my body. I didn’t know what he felt on his end, or if he felt anything at all. There was every chance he was just offering because he trusted me more when I was in his line of sight—even though he’d given me the illusion of privacy, he’d never shut the joining door between our rooms.

“Afraid I’m going to slaughter the entire hotel while you’re out shopping like a housewife?” Venom. The words still sounded likepure venom coming from my lips, and at least some small part of me felt…

Bad.

“It’s safer for everyone if I keep you close by.” He sounded just as ambivalent as always, but his eyes flicked down to my hand for a brief moment before he turned away. “Get ready. It’s late enough that we should be able to do this without running into many people.”

There wasn’t really a question in Wren’s voice, but I wasn’t willing to deal with the repercussions of saying no just to be stubborn. Not when I felt calmer than I had in days. I didn’t want to tell him that, so the second best thing I could do was give a curt nod and push myself up from the bed.

I did double check to make sure the feather was tucked deep into the pocket of my jacket before I walked into the other room—the last thing I needed was him seeing that I’d kept it.

I still wasn’t surewhyI’d kept it.

“You realize this is another situation where you’re paying, right?” It wasn’t something I was proud of, but I didn’t have anything. Honestly, when I’d run out of my shitty little place, I hadn’t even brought my wallet with me. And there was every chance someone had noticed I hadn’t been back and broken in to steal all of my shit by now.

It probably said a lot that I didn’t care. I didn’t have anything worth stealing to begin with, so they couldn’t take anything from me.

“It’s fine.” Wren’s response was clipped, and I tilted my head and eyed him. I obviously hadn’t imagined his wings the first time we’d encountered each other because I had evidence of them in my pocket now. When we’d been sitting on opposite sides of the wall, touching each other, I’d heard the rustle of feathers.

But as he stood now, with his back ramrod straight, there was no sign of fluttering coming from the leather jacket he wore.

“Fine. Let’s go.” I pushed my way from the room before he had a chance to say anything else, and it left him half jogging to catch up. I ignored the way I felt the thread trailing between us tug violently for the few breaths it took him to reach me. The damned thing was going to be the end of me—I couldn’t so much as leave the same building without it trying to flood up my throat to strangle me. To make me go back to Wren.

I’d been caught before, tethered to a person out of fear and pain. I didn’t want to feel that way again.

Icouldn’tfeel that way again.

It made me walk faster instead of waiting for him to catch up, even though I knew it was dangerous. I could feel that pang starting behind my ribs, and somehow I suddenlywantedit.

I was ready to break myself, I was ready to hurt… because deep down, I wasafraid.

I was terrified of wanting this.

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