Page 42 of Run Like the Devil

The conversation slowly died down until all five of us stared at the red and oranges that danced in front of us, the unknowns and dangers surrounding us, waiting for a chance to jump in and fuck up our day.

Guardian, the thing in the fog, the other people here—all crazy from what it seemed—the changes in our personalities, the question of how the hell to get out of it, it all hung above us like a beast watching for a chance to strike.

But there was nothing we could do about it right then, so instead, we set out our things to rest again.

Maybe everything would look better in the morning, right? That’s what people said.

Except, I doubted anything would look different, not so long as we woke up here, on the Path.

* * * *

Hale

Fuck walking.

Fuck this stupid bullshit.

Fuck everything.

My eyes drifted over to a certain green-haired disaster and my hands curled as if I could already feel her.

Well, fuck her at least.

“Don’t stare like that.”

I turned a bored look on Tyrus. “Don’t you ever get tired of bitching? Seems like it’d get old sooner or later. Fuck knows it’s old to me now.”

Tyrus didn’t wilt under my look, but then again, he never had. It was one of the things I both liked and hated the most about him. It didn’t matter how hard I pushed at him, how ugly I got, he never reacted at all.

I wasn’t used to being ignored, but I had to admit, it made me offer him at least a little respect.

“She’s still hesitant around us. If you make her more fearful, we will all suffer.”

“She isn’t afraid of me—she’s just trapped in her own head. She’ll be fine.” Even as I said that, a part of my brain screamed in response that it wasn’t true.

Or rather, that it might not be.

Still, if there was one thing I was good at, it was pretending shit was however I wanted it to be until I made my way through it. I’d lived my whole fucking life underestimated. If I took shit the way the world handed it to me, I’d have curled up and died a long fucking time ago.

So even though a part of me worried about Loch rebounding, another part of me refused to believe she might not. That was an unacceptable outcome.

Loch sighed and rolled her shoulder as if it ached. It probably did—these backpacks were no jokes. We might be stronger and faster than humans by a far cry, but even our bodies complained when we did too much or stressed them too long.Still, we’d needed to bring food and water. There seemed to be fruit on the trees, and we passed water sources, but we had no idea when those might disappear.

“Watch yourself,” Tyrus said as though he could see my thoughts when I took a step toward Loch.

“You watch your own ass,” I snapped back. “I’ll watch hers.”

He made a soft sound that screamed he didn’t like me—and fuck did I understand that—but I left him behind and headed for Loch. Spending all day with a bunch of men wasn’t my idea of a good time. Too much testosterone, too many dicks. I’d take Loch’s company over that any fucking day.

Loch stood a few steps off the Path, close enough to keep sight of it and not risk getting lost. After rolling her shoulder again, she reached down for her toes.

Which gave me all sorts of ideas. Somehow, it felt like years since I’d last gotten to really touch her. I wanted to strip her down and reacquaint myself with every luscious inch of her body, to trace every curve with my tongue, to leave marks to ensure she never forgot about me.

The need beat inside my head so loudly it almost hurt.

Did she feel the same? Was this all a game to her? Did she just want to keep me close? To trick me? To see what she could get from me?

Loch twisted to look over her shoulder at me, her eyebrow lifted as if to ask me what the fuck I was doing right behind her.

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