Page 68 of Hell's Reaper

“Asura! Asura! Look!”

My hands find refuge in my pocket before running after them. Jumping high, I try to high five Fen, but he has to be up eight feet right now. He stays up there, talking down to us the whole time. He tells Hazen about his collection of superhero action figures and books. Hazen feeds into it, genuinely interested to the point that they fight about which superhero is the best.

I glance back to see Jigsaw watching us… me. His eyes meet mine and they don’t look away at all. I give a wink, making him roll his eyes, but I think he smiled.

At the park, Hazen sets Fen down and he takes off.Thank god he’s wearing a jacket, because it’s freezing. I am not.

“Come on, Hazen!” Fen shouts as he jumps onto the seesaw.

Hazen’s eyes widen, but he’s smiling. He shrugs off his jacket and hands it over. “I have a sneaking suspicion that he likes me better.”

“Ha-ha,” I mock as he moves to go to the seesaw. Watching him try to sit on it makes me laugh. He opts to pushing it with his feet as I pull on his jacket.

“Going to have a collection,” Jigsaw mutters.

“Huh? Of jackets? Yeah. I’m going to get yours next, don’t worry.”

“Oh yeah,” he teases me. “I was so worried.”

I smirk. “I didn’t want you to feel left out.”

He snorts. “Oh, thanks. Would be honored for you to use my jacket once and never give it back.”

“I’d give it back… in a few years.”

“Oh, I hope I don’t remember you in a few years,” he says back.

I know it’s teasing but a part of me thinks it’s truthful about what he says. Jigsaw would rather not have anything to do with me. Like Hazen says he keeps to himself and touches no one. I pushed it when I touched him in the diner, but I won’t ever again, although he didn’t seem uncomfortable. “So, uh, you and Hazen, huh? Secret lovers? Is that why you hate me?”

He tsks. “I don’t hate you… But yeah, Hazen is my secret lover.”

I chuckle with him. “He’s such a bottom.”

“Agreed… But, uh, I’m not gay, Asura,” he says in a soft voice.

“Better tell that to Hazen before he gets his hopes up,” I tease.

He smiles down at me, and I have to pry my eyes from him to look away.

“So, the mask and glove thing. Is that… because…”

“I burn everyone I touch. Yes.”

I nod. “So, how’s living with that?”

“It’s annoying, but I guess I’m used to it.”

He’s never felt a lot of things, huh? I know logically, he’s toxic, and will burn through my entire body, but the idea of even him spitting in my mouth turns me on.

No. Don’t get turned on.

“Yeah. Uh. That sucks.” I step away from him. “You’ll… make a good hellhound to someone someday.”

He looks down at me. He’s not as tall as Ledger, but damn near close.

“So, you and Hazen? Best friends, huh?”

Jigsaw pries his eyes from me, slowly. “We grew up in the same orphanage.”

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