Page 43 of The Forbidden Note

“We’re never going to be friends, Zane. You and I are just—”

“Say teacher and student. I dare you.” His voice bristles with a threat.

I tilt my chin up tensely. “Step-siblings.”

He barks out an ironic laugh.

It’s not funny.

None of this is.

Zane and I should never have crossed paths and yet here we are, tangled together in a ridiculous web of circumstances and buried under a mountain of scandal.

“I put my phone away. You can open your eyes now,” Zane whispers.

My eyelashes flicker as I slowly adjust to the pitch-black coffin.

Sheepishly, I rub my throat. “My eyes are sensitive to light.”

“Or maybe you prefer darkness.”

“Don’t say it like that.”

“You ashamed?”

I can’t see him, but I canfeelthe smirk he’s tossing in my direction.

“The kind of darkness you’re referring to is bad.”

“Bad. Good. It’s all relative.”

I snort. “That’s something only people with a corrupt moral compass would say.”

“Darkness is where you find out who you really are.” His voice is mellow and yet his words are dangerous as hell. “It’s where all your true desires come out to play. Everything you deny yourself in the light,” he eases closer, “you can indulge in when it’s dark.”

His finger slide confidently down my face to my mouth. He traces my parted lips and I shiver.

“What would you do if you knew it would never come to the light, tiger?” he coaxes.

I breathe out. “That’s a pointless exercise.”

“Because you’re scared?”

“Because it’s not for me. Even if it hurts, I want to live in the light.”

His finger goes still.

I’m held captive by the tension between us, the many truths spilling in the quiet of the coffin.

I can’t be with you.

I won’t be with you.

I will never let the darkness overtake me.

Zane withdraws his hand and rolls away. I ache for the loss of his warmth.

“They’re going to get us out of here soon,” he says stiffly.

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