Page 102 of Paper Thin Love

I love you,I mouth to Dash.

His jaw clenches, and his eyes turn cruel as they look away from me like I’m a creature of disgust. It’s then the cloaked man announces Dash’s competition.

A new fear settles in my heart because this opponent isn’t just any student. He’s always viewed Dash as the enemy.

There will be no mercy, no walking away until one of them kills the other.

Chapter 40

Dash

It feels as though I can hear each individual's heartbeat. Each thump ripples over my skin, trying to unfocus me; a cool drop of sweat glides down my spine.

Some of the students are excited to witness my downfall, while others remain cautious and wary of the unrest that follows a fallen king.

But it’s the pulse that skips a beat that calls to me.

Mila.

There she stands, with Dante looming over her just as I asked him to. Her brown hair is swept up, but instead of her perfect ballerina bun, it’s disheveled, just like her soul. Her wide eyes grow even wider, summoning me like a shipwrecked sailor desperately hoping for a lifeboat in sight.

When will she realize that some of us deserve to be damned?

I try to avert my gaze, but it’s futile. She uncovers the final fragments of my scarred soul, attempting to tear them from my flesh, to safeguard them from others.

In this moment, all I feel for Mila is pure hatred.

I know my eyes show it.

Not too long ago, my ultimate desire was a fight to the death. I longed to die. I wished for the pain and grief to stop.

This was what I wanted.

Before.

Then I met Mila. She gave me purpose and I despise her for that.

I love her for that reason, too.

Now my life consisted of after.AfterI met Mila.

I want to live, to breathe both resentment and desire. I yearn to see the dawn of the next day wash over her skin. I crave the sight of her flesh covered in the marks from my lips and fingers. I demand every inch of her and the only way to get want I want is to not give-up but rather to fight. I have to embody my last name, which means I have to be a soulless man, a demon that does as he wants and gives no fucks.

But in order to be that individual who can survive, I must evolve into an individual Mila will abhor.

Either way, our story ends with one of us despising the other.

There is no hope, but there are the moments we can set aside our disdain and be together.

That’s what I grasp as I turn and wait for the announcer to tell me who it is I have to kill.

Chapter 41

Mila

I wish I could see the face that belongs to the deep voice that stills my heart and makes my thoughts collide in confusion. The announcer opens his left arm as Dash’s opponent enters the pit.

“Jared Everhart, you are called to participate in the Cleansing.”Our classmates gasp, each one piercing my chest like bullets.

---