Page 60 of Run Like the Devil

“So we’re both just men at the mercy of the women in our lives?”

I snorted softly at his statement. “Maybe that’s the true secret of life. No matter what you do, how hard you strive, you always end up under the thumb of someone. It makes our efforts feel a little hopeless, does it not?”

Tyrus shook his head. “Not at all. Maybe the point of life is simply to find a person whose thumb you don’t mind being beneath.”

And that was a philosophy for life I could actually understand and get behind.

Chapter Fourteen

Loch

“Are you just going to be an asshole this whole time?” I threw the small rock, and about the time it bounced off Yazmor’s back, I had a quick thought of… Is insulting and throwing a rock at something as powerful and unpredictable as Yazmor really smart?

And I didn’t even have to think about the answer, because no, it definitely wasn’t.

However, I couldn’t stand him ignoring me anymore. I had slept, eaten, woken and walked more than any person should every fucking walk, and through it all, he’d paid me no mind.

He’d refused to even meet my gaze let alone speak to me.

Being angry about it felt a lot better than crying, after all.

Yazmor stopped and turned toward me, his eyes narrowed in a way that almost had me taking a step back. Wow, those violet eyes of his could look scary when he wanted them to.

I steeled my nerves. I didn’t back down to anyone—I wouldn’t start with Yazmor. All it would do was add more distance between us, and I already hated how much had grown.

“You shouldn’t throw rocks at things that can kill you,” he muttered and shoved his hands into the pocket of his sweater, his shoulders hunched forward. He didn’t make it into a joke, didn’t smile.

It felt downright unnatural, like I was looking at a totally different person. Still, I tried to remind myself that the Path twisted people, that it affected us all, that whatever this was with Yazmor wasn’t him—it was Hubis’ doing.

It was like when someone got super drunk. I couldn’t blame them later for what they did—we all turned into idiots when drunk, so we just took turns between being the drunk idiot and the helper friend who put up with them.

Right now, he was the drunk idiot, and I was the helper, which meant putting my feelings aside and not letting it get to me.

“Well, you shouldn’t ignore things that can throw rocks then.”

“I’m not ignoring you.”

“Really? Because normally I can’t get a moment’s peace around you but now? You haven’t said anything in hours. If I didn’t see you walking, I’d check you for a pulse.”

“You wanted me to shut up.”

My mouth hung open for a moment. “Are you really just pouting over that? I’m sorry, okay? I lost my temper. I’m under a lot of stress and this place is affecting me, too.”

He let out a soft sound, one full of frustration. “Don’t apologize—it doesn’t make me any happier to see you unhappy or feeling regret.”

“Then don’t ignore me, because that makes me unhappy.”

Yazmor finally lifted his gaze up and looked at me for real, without that distance, without the threat from before. It was as though he’d brushed off that chip from his shoulder finally. “I don’t want you unhappy, not ever.”

I came closer to him, wanting to shrink the gap that had opened between us. “You’ve never cared what anyone says about you. Why did that affect you so much?”

“Do you really not get it? I don’t care what people say about me, but you are not people. What you think of me matters, and that isn’t something I’ve ever worried about before. This place? It feels like it whispers in my ear nonstop, this incessant sound like a buzzing insect I can’t shoo away.”

“What does it say?”

“That I don’t belong. That I’m different. That I can never hope to be accepted for what I am. It tells me that the only way to have a place in this world, with the people of this world, is to pretend. It tells me that you will never truly care for me, that if you knew the real me, if you understood exactly what I was, you would flee.”

“You know me—I’m not smart enough to run away, not even from you.” I placed my hand on his chest, the sensation of his heart beating reassuring in a strange way. It felt like a reminder that we were connected, that we had similarities, even if we came from such different places.

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