Page 44 of To Save a Vampire
“I’d never let you hit the ground anyway,” he adds with a quiet laugh, his breath fanning over my face.
I narrow my eyes at his unfunny use of sarcasm. Just when I thought we had both grown up during our journey. I trust him and he says something like that. What a mood killer. What a jerk. What an as—
My thoughts are cut short when he grabs me by the waist and throws me over his shoulder. I muffle a shriek as he carries me up the creaking stairs. I slap my hands against his broad shoulders; his deep laughter vibrates through my body as I’m jostled about with every terrifying step he takes in the death trap that is this house.
At the top of the stairs, he carefully lifts me off his shoulders until my feet touch the wooden floor below. His hands linger on my hips and my fingers grasp his shoulders. The fear of falling through the stairs is only partially on my mind now.
His body is angled into mine. His smug amusement is still present on his arrogant face.
“Do you ever get a girl’s permission before manhandling her like that?” I ask, trying to sound annoyed even as my hands have a mind of their own. My fingers trace the collar of his shirt until I’m pushing my fingers into the soft hair at the nape of his neck. My chest rises and falls visibly, and I can only hope he can’t hear how hard my heart’s pounding in my chest. The sound fills my ears and mind.
“What can I say? If you’ve heard one yes, you’ve heard them all,” he says in a confident whisper, still grinning down at me.
His jab fills my chest with laughter, but it doesn’t resonate past my lips. A fluttering seriousness grows within me as I realize he’s flirting with me. Is this what it’s like to really be attracted to someone? A pressure that fills your chest until you can’t breathe? A need to just touch them, to have him near you? When just the feel of his skin against yours soars adrenaline through your veins?
It feels a little unnatural, really, but in the best possible way.
“Is that true?” I tilt my head up at him. I try for sarcastic jealousy. I try for that smooth confidence that pours so easily from him, but my voice comes out breathy and quiet.
His hands are on my hips, and his clear eyes are intently steady on me as he shakes his head no.
His full lips part almost hesitantly, his eyes drift down to my lips.
“If you didn’t like that, you’re going to hate this.”
He slowly pulls away, his hands dropping from my waist. To my disappointment, he releases his hold on me and opens a window in the hallway, the window pane screeching as he forces it open.
The warm night air fills the stuffy room, the smell of fresh air and dirt meeting my nose. Asher looks back at me from across the small hallway. He gives me one last confusing look before he leans out the window, angling his body out into the night. One leg is out and one leg is in.
This is our relationship. We will only ever be partially together with minimal time here and there with one another before one of us is off half dangling out a window while the other stands alone and confused.
Just as the feeling settles uncomfortably into my chest, Asher lifts his body. The Crimson Sword dangles dangerously against his hip as he pulls himself to the roof and his feet disappear entirely. Dust rains down on me under the new weight on the beams above. My mouth hangs open, my arms fold over my chest. A cold feeling washes into my body as I stand alone in the dark hallway.
I jump when he leans back over the window upside down, his hair blowing in the breeze as he looks at me through the upper section of the dirty window.
“You coming?” he asks.
I raise my brows, not sure if I’m ready yet to jump out of the second story window for this hybrid. He bites his lip and looks around the dusty room I’m standing in, his eyes no longer able to meet my own.
“You know, you can leave anytime you want. You really don’t have to stay. You don’t have to do anything, Fallon,” he says. His quiet voice is muffled through the glass as uncertainty fills his beautiful features.
My heart dips at his words. He thinks I’d leave? Do I want to leave?
No, not at all. I’ve had a tornado of a life since the day I met him, but I don’t think I can go back to fair-weather living.
With three short steps, I’m across the hall, my fingers biting into the chipped window frame. His eyes search mine. Just like that, it’s as though we’re separated again, but the walls and windows of the compound are no longer in the way. It’s just me and him. We’re the only thing in each other’s paths. In our way.
I lean out the window, the breeze pulling my hair around my face as I look up at him. Our faces are only inches apart.
“Just because I’m not leaping through windows after you doesn’t mean I don’t want to be here. I didn’t realize your confidence was so fragile.”
The corner of his lips tilt up just a little at my words, happiness inching its way onto his beautiful face. I raise my hands, reaching out to him, feeling like a puppy wishing to be held. He grabs me under my arms, then slowly lifts me. My hands grab his shoulders like my life depends on it. My feet slip against the window sill and then I am suspended without support. My boots kick lightly against the old siding. My heart thrums violently in my chest as I try to remain calm. I’m hanging two stories in the air in the arms of the mystic I trust with my life.
Stay calm.
After only a few seconds, he pulls me up onto the roof. I hold onto him until I find my footing against the metal roof. My feet slip when I try to find some traction, but fail. Asher guides me to a sitting position next to him, our legs arched and our feet just inches from the edge. Our knees brush against each other. That tiniest amount of contact sends an electric current through my body.
I smile like a mad woman at him. Adrenaline blazes through my body. I feel like I just cliff jumped instead of snuck up onto his grandparent’s roof.
