Page 55 of Eternal

I’m hazy in a way I usually only feel when my doctors change my medication. Slipping from reality.

I’m floating.

Or is that Declan picking me up?

I vaguely feel Declan carrying me to the shower and the warm water running over my skin.

He must have undressed fully because I feel every rock-hard plane of muscle flush with mine as his hands wash us clean. And when we leave the shower, he sets me down on the edge of the tub so he can drymy hair.

“Sorry, I—”

I what?

Lost focus?

Lost myself?

Declan doesn’t need to know any of those things.

“You don’t need to explain.” His hair is pitch black when it’s wet, and it brightens his eyes even more.

How is that possible?

He’s a son of the devil, but those eyes are cut from the night sky. Wishing stars if I’ve ever seen them.

Dew covers his bare skin, and I blink as I take him in. The hard muscle, the deep grooves that trail in a V down below his towel. Solid ripples of his chest. The—

“What are those?”

Seven letters are carved into his skin like he took a razor to his chest and drew them.

ETERNAL

I reach for the angry red scars, but Declan grabs my wrist, stopping me.

“You have to earn that answer.” His words are harsh. “Let’s go lay down.”

“I need to get back to my dorm.”

He catches me when I stand up, still wobbly on my legs.

“Not tonight.” He picks me up and carries me to his bed.

Survival instincts beg me to run. We’ve already crossed the line with the perks we weren’t planning to entertain, and now he’s asking me to get into his bed like we’re playing house. It’s dangerous. Neither of us can give the other more than this.

But as Declan drops the towel and climbs naked into the bed with me, pulling my back to his chest and holding me in his arms, I can’t find the strength to fight him.

My eyes flutter closed, and as my dreams pull me under, I cling to the reminder of who he really is because this isn’t him.

This isn’tus.

If I trust him, he’ll only make me regret it.

17

I’m The One Who Knows

Teal

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