Page 45 of Incipient

“Okay…”

“Just really excited for that…pizza.”No seriously, someone please shoot me dead.

“Alright.” He laughed as he pulled out his cell phone. “I’ll order the pizza and meet you downstairs.”

“Awesome. Sounds like a plan,” I said and then watched as he left the room, quietly closing the door behind himself.

As soon as the coast was clear, I buried my cherry-red face in my hands and then openly cringed at myself for the next three and a half minutes.

After taking a quick shower in the guest bathroom, I wrapped the plush terrycloth towel around myself and made my way to the vanity. Wiping my hand across the steamed mirror, I looked up and sighed at the reflection staring back at me.

I looked like roadkill.

No, scratch that.Wetroadkill.

My eyes appeared sunken and tired, and my skin looked like it hadn’t seen the sun inyears, a consequence of the perpetual overcast bestowed upon Hollow Hills. And then there was my hair. My once beautiful, shiny hair had seen much better days, and much better conditioning masks. The ends looked fried and in desperate need of a trim.

Unfortunately, my life wasn’t conducive to beauty salon visits and pampering sessions anymore, and without Taylor there to crack the whip, I was barely managing to keep a non-expired tube of mascara around.

Feeling dejected, I picked up my wet brush and ran it through my long dark hair, doing my best to get out the tangles before pulling it back into a high ponytail. It was as good as it was going to get so there was no point in dwelling on my subpar appearance. And lucky for me that I was too hungry to care anyway.

The only thing I wanted to do was stuff my face full of pizza and then snuggle myself back into Trace’s arms.

Obviously, I was going to skip that last part, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t what Iwantedto do.

“Pizza should be here in ten minutes,” said Trace as I walked into the living room several minutes later. He had been lounging on the sectional, looking at something on his phone when his eyes flicked up to mine.

And then they stayed there.

I wasn’t sure what he was seeing but judging by the heated look in his eyes it certainly wasn’t the wet roadkill that I’d seen in the mirror just moments before. That was the thing about boys in love. They seemed to see you with rose colored glasses no matter how low you were currently setting the bar for yourself.

I rolled my eyes at him and then took a seat on the couch beside him, still making sure to keep a good two feet between us. I’d gotten very used to being close to him while keeping a reasonable distance. It was a delicate balance, but I was on the verge of perfecting it.

“Feeling better?” he asked as he placed his phone down on the coffee table and then shifted his body toward me, giving me his full attention as he draped his arm along the back of the sofa.

“Much better.” I tucked my legs up beside me and settled in. “It feels good not be in pain anymore. For a minute there, I was worried I was going to have to move into Ben’s cellar,” I said, only half-joking.

“I’m sure Ben would’ve loved that. His own personal dungeon barbie.”

“Right? Hours upon hours of torture via X-files reruns. I can totally see it now.”

Trace laughed. “You know him well.”

“All joking aside though, I’m super grateful for his help. And yours. And Gabriel’s,” I quickly added, realizing how many people had come through for me tonight. The whole thing could’ve gone completely sideways, or worse, I could’ve ended up walking directly into the lion’s den with my pants down. My friends had really come through for me tonight, and I only wished I could’ve been there to see Dominic’s face when he realized I wasn’t showing up.

I was going to have to find a way to repay each and every one of them—especially Gabriel.

My stomach clenched as I thought about him. “I really hope he’s okay.”

“Gabriel?”

I nodded. “He broke his lifelong streak for me. I can’t imagine what he’s feeling right now.” The more I imagined it, the worse I felt about myself. “I should’ve found someone else. I should have never asked him to do this—”

“He’s the one that offered,” interjected Trace, trying to squash my mounting guilt. “Besides, did you know another Revenant Descendant you could trust to do this?”

“I used to,” I whispered, feeling as though that were a lifetime ago. A lifetime ago, Dominic would have been the one to come to my rescue. He would’ve put his life on the line for mine, no questions asked.

Now he was the one putting me in danger—playing games with my life like I was nothing more than a pet for him to amuse himself with. The realization depressed me.

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