Page 99 of Paper Thin Love

Dash

Whether I return or not is irrelevant. Mila has claimed a piece of me that I never knew existed. A part of me too frail to survive my world.

Maybe that’s why I’m cruel to her. She showed me what compassion was. Instead of running terrified, she fell for a broken, used, and abused demon.

My mom would have loved Mila; she would have demanded I treat her like my equal.

Perhaps I would have.

Love needs constant attention. Hate, well, that needs nothing but an empty void. I feel that emptiness as soon as Mila leaves, when my fingertips can’t brush against her flesh, when my eyes can’t look at her beautiful face.

I feel incomplete more often than content.

My future will be filled with people who require my attention. I’ll never have sufficient time for Mila.

I need her to know that.

I need my little fox to know this is all she can have; stolen moments.

She’s a thief. That’s always what she was, a sly fox. I just taught her how to accept her true nature.

“You never really had me,” I tell her. Each syllable that leaves my wicked tongue feels like a lashing cutting me so deep it scars my bones.

It’s better this way. I don’t want Mila to live a life of waiting, of having expectations. I know my words are evil, but it’s the only way I know how to help her grow stronger.

I’m trying to help her. I always said I would fix her.

I also said I might break her after I watched her grow.

Chapter 39

Mila

After only ten steps down my hall, it feels as if my feet are weighed down by lead.

How can I be Dash’s shield in the shadows when I can barely walk in the dark?

I hit a solid wall while rounding the corner, my shoulders roll back from the impact. Glancing up, I see warm, light brown eyes looking down at me.“What are you doing here?” I ask Dante as he blocks my path.“Why are you not with Dash?” A bead of sweat falls from my brow. Dash needs both Cillian and Dante by his side tonight. They should be getting ready to go to the Cleansing. I wanted to be with Dash, to walk the path through the woods with him, to kiss him before he entered his trial. I knew Dash would never allow that, so when he walked out the door, I allowed him, knowing that I’d soon join all the other bystanders to watch the bloody fight.

“I am with Dash. Watching you will keep his mind clear for the fight.” Dante responds as he crosses his arms, his tan biceps flexing, making me step back.

“I’m going. You can’t stop me.” I take a step to my right, trying to pass him, but he blocks me.

Dante smirks.“I could.” His voice takes on an energy as if my fight would entice a man like him.

Dante has always been the hardest to read. He’s always watching, judging, plotting. With just a single look, he can discern fifty ways to end your life and a hundred techniques to unravel your thoughts and manifest your deepest terrors. Cillian’s intimidating size may make people fear him initially, but Dante is the one they should truly be afraid of.

Dante steps closer, and my nostrils flare with his scent.“If I wanted to.” He purrs in a joking yet serious tone, then pivots to the side, opening the pathway. Somehow, the hallway looks longer and more narrow, like the walls are closing in.

“You will stay by my side.” It’s not an order; it’s a commandment.

I swallow.“I don’t need a babysitter.”

“You need so much, Mila.” He tilts his head.“That’s why you insisted on going tonight. Greed, compassion, stupidity.”

“Cheering for the man I love isn’t stupid.”

“Cheering?” He raises a brow.“Since when did our little ballerina become a observer of gladiatorial games?”

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