Page 114 of Severance

“I want you everywhere I go, Alana.” His whisper simmers across my skin. His lips feather mine.

“Really?”

“Yes. Really.” He pushes himself off the bed and walks across the room to grab his cigarettes and an ashtray. The food I ordered is sitting in the corner untouched and probably cold.

I feel a wave of heat pulsing through me as my eyes follow his movements. There’s no doubt he’s going to be a star—he sings heavenly and he’s the devil on the guitar, and I don’t want to miss anything, not a moment of this journey he’s about to start.

Mikah sets the ashtray on the nightstand and lies down next to me. He lights up his cigarette with his usual finesse, his fingers elegant and his gaze concentrated.

“If they give you any shit about the smoke when you check out, let me know, okay?” he says, drawing the nicotine into his lungs.

“Okay.” I nod. My sex is raw and swollen and my body is slick with the mix of our sweat.

Mikah pulls the cigarette from his mouth and hands it to me. “When are you going home?”

“The day after tomorrow.” I close my eyes and take a long drag.

“You can’t do this shit with your parents like you did to my brother,” he says in an authoritative tone. “You’re going to have to tell them we’re together when you go back.”

He’s planting himself into my life deliberately and unconditionally. Marking his territory. And I love it.

“I will.” I return the cigarette.

“If they don’t like me, that’s fine. They’re not the ones seeing me, so they don’t have a say in where, how, or what you do with me. You understand?” He stares at me, his gaze unwavering.

“I understand.”

“It’s like you said… We all may die tomorrow… I don’t have time to persuade people to like me.”

“I don’t need persuasion.” A smile stretches my lips.

“Good.” He draws me closer, and I rest my head on his chest. “Because you get what you see.”

I don’t even know if he understands what I see is beautiful. I don’t have any other words to describe him. He’s everything I ever wanted in a man. I just didn’t realize it until I got toknowhim.

Mikah continues to puff on his cigarette in silence, pushing the smoke out leisurely. His heart thump-thumps under my cheek, and it’s peaceful. For the first time since the attack, it doesn’t feel like the sky is falling or the earth beneath me is shuddering.

“Can I ask you something?” I whisper, my voice shaking.

“Yeah?”

“Why didn’t you run like everyone else?”

I can feel Mikah’s heart rate spike. “I don’t know.” He pulls the cigarette from between his lips and puts it out. “DK liked the lights dim. He wanted the shows to be intimate. Basically, when we’re on stage, we don’t really get to see the crowd. It’s like playing to pitch black…” Mikah pauses. His hand slides to my head and he runs his warm palm over my damp hair. “I sensed the panic, so I turned my head to check on him and he looked like he’d been hit by something. I didn’t know what it was at first. I glanced back at the crowd, and they were all screaming and there was so much noise…the floors fucking shook. I thought an earthquake had hit us. It reminded me of a scene from one of those horror movies DK loved, and then I noticed the gun. He…aimed at everyone who ran, so I didn’t. I turned to DK, but he wasn’t there anymore. That’s when I saw you.”

My throat catches and I’m scared to move or speak because the stillness between us is too fragile.

“You had this look on your face.” Mikah has trouble getting the words out.

My spine stiffens. “What look?”

“Lost.”

“I was scared.”

“I was scared too, baby.” He pulls me against him. “I was fucking terrified—I didn’t know where my brother was or if we were going to make it out alive.”

Mikah pauses. His hands move over my naked body, fingertips brushing my skin.

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