Page 87 of Payne's Envy

I picked her up and leaned her against my chest. The laughter died down as she wrapped her arms around my neck and laid her head on my shoulder. The heat of her breath, the touch of her was too much. I breathed heavier. The heat wanted to tear out of me.

The buzzing of insects intensified. I heard the flapping of wings as the dragons flew, but saw none nearby. The burbling of the waterfall pierced my ear, and I fought the urge to wince. All the noises sharpened, becoming so much louder my head felt like it might crack.

“This place.” Joy’s soft voice pulled me out of the chaos, and the sounds returned to normal. She tapped my chest, then my arms. “This spot right here. I know I’m immortal, but if I had to die… I’d want to leave this world right in your arms.”

“You’re being ridiculous.” My stomach churned imagining that scenario. She’d doom me to the worst torture.

“Your heart is racing.”

“Because you drive me out of my damned mind, talking about dying.” I swore as I carried her through the woods. “I, for one, am glad you’re immortal.”

The unique glow of the trees and bugs illuminated the dress she wore.

She sighed, keeping her hand over my ever-racing heart. “I do not wish to live forever if you’re not to be in the eternity with me.”

“But I’d die a cheerful man to know I had been a small part of yours.”

Joy must not have liked my words because she removed her hand and turned her head. When she crossed her arms and her chin wobbled, my shoulders drooped.

I wished I could give her anything she wanted. If she wanted me forever, I would have given it if possible. There weren’t any answers for me in that world to explain how long I had to be with Joy. I didn’t even know what kind of demon I was. I had to be one because I wasn’t human. When I was younger and heard Ruby’s thought in my head for the first time—I wondered, we all did, if I was like them. Some sort of dragon. Maybe even a shifter.

Nothing I did changed. No amount of saying, picturing, or wishing made a difference. I didn’t sprout wings. Or fur on a full moon. I aged like a man. I healed like a human. Ate like one. The fact that I wasn’t one was the only thing Grim had ever confirmed about me.

I simply existed in a world I didn’t seem to belong in.

But when I got that idea in my head, it never lasted. One glance at the immortal in my arms and I knew if I was to be alive, it would be by her side.

So, I couldn’t get answers, but I was okay.

Because Joy cared about me as I was.

Chapter Forty-One

Payne

The Day I Made Her Like Me Continued

“I’ve seen every part of these woods.” Joy rambled on as I carried her. “But I’m excited to see where you’re taking me. Is it the hot springs? It’s the hot springs, isn’t it? Maybe we should have gone to the dance first. Do you know how long it took to curl my hair?”

I stopped and looked down at her reddened cheeks. “Why the hot springs?”

The blush traveled down her neck and shoulders. I couldn’t think straight because of that strangeneedinside of me. It didn’t help that I sensed Joy’s innocence and her desire. I smelled it rolling off her skin in waves.

No, it wasn’t only her skin. I smelled her—

“What are you imagining?” I asked.

I wondered if she was thinking about all the time she spent near the water the last couple of years. How many occasions she tortured me and tried to bait me into seeing or doing something I shouldn’t? I knew, I always fucking knew, what she was doing.

While nothing stood in my way from going further with Joy, I needed the moment to be perfect.

Hades, I wanted to spoil her more than I did. Hold her and touch her like I was, but so much more. I wanted to fall into her love and never step out. Die for her. Bring her to life with my hands. Press my lips on her chest, right over her heart, and caress every inch of her.

I could. I finally could.

The strangeness inside me tried to scare me. I didn’t feel in control. My hands, limbs, my soul shook with its urgency to touch and claim her.

I shouldn’t be afraid. I had waited so long to show her how I felt. To reveal to her how much I loved her. There was nothing more I wanted to do than adore her openly and call her mine. When we were kids, I had begged for that moment.

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