Page 47 of Run Like the Devil

He made an unhappy sound, but his footsteps said he’d given in.

“No,” Tyrus snapped and pulled me behind him, placing himself between me and Hale—at least, I thought so given the sound of steps. “He won’t touch you, not after what just happened. I won’t allow it.”

“Last I checked, I didn’t ask you for permission.” If we had been anywhere else, I’d have shoved Tyrus away for his overbearing attitude. As it turned out, my feelings were less important than my fear of being alone in the darkness.“If we get separated, we’re all screwed. So unless someone was kinky enough to bring a rope or a leash, I’m pretty sure holding hands is all we’ve got.”

“Then he’ll hold my hand. I’m not about to let him touch you, not after what he just pulled.”

I couldn’t really argue with Tyrus about it. I wanted to, some part of me willing to scold Hale but disliking the idea of anyone else doing it. I guess that was one of those, ‘I can pick on him but no one else can,’ sort of things.

Still, the idea of Tyrus and Hale holding hands was unfailingly adorable. “Damn this darkness,” I muttered.

“What, you want to see us holding hands?” Hale snapped, his voice coming from closer, telling me they’d probably already done it and also telling me Hale was not a fan of it.

“What? You would think so little of me that you think I’d want to see that to laugh? Of course not. I’m sad I can’t take a picture to blackmail you two later.” I didn’t fight my laugh at that, grateful for the distraction that took away some of my fear.

Or it was better to say that it helped me deal with that fear, that it took up enough room inside me to shove the fear into a corner where I could pretend it didn’t exist.

“We could skip, you know?”

“Loch…” Tyrus warned. “You are enjoying this far too much. In case you forgot, he attacked you. This isn’t funny.”

“It’s a little funny. This is when I miss Yazmor—he’d find it funny.”

“I doubt that. In fact, if Yazmor had been the one to intervene, I suspect Hale would be missing a few organs.”

I tried to picture Yazmor that angry, but I struggled to do so. Then I recalled the glimpses I’d caught before, how he’d destroyed the men who had tortured me. I gulped at the memory, at realizing Yazmor hid more than his fair share of violence and darkness beneath that charming smile.

“I didn’t attack her,” Hale said, though the softness of his voice made me think he didn’t quite believe that. “I wouldn’t have hurt her.”

“You scared her—that was enough.”

“Ain’t that up to her to decide, not you?”

“I hate to agree with Hale right now, but he’s right.”

Tyrus tightened his hand around mine. “He lacks self-discipline. That is the most dangerous thing for a person, to be unable to control themselves. I don’t care how this place affects him, don’t care the reasons he had for behaving that way, it only goes to show you are not safe around him.”

I waited for Hale to argue, to tell Tyrus to fuck off as he usually did. It surprised me when Hale responded with only silence.

In fact, if he had argued, I might have lectured him more. When he seemed to give in, though, I found myself defending him.

“This place is affecting us all—we know that. It’s difficult, makes us question ourselves, and it’s so subtle we don’t even notice it. It’s not Hale’s fault.”

“Yeah, it is my fault,” Hale said softly. “He’s not wrong. I fucked up and I scared you and he’s not wrong about me being dangerous to you.”

I opened my mouth to tell him to shut up, to make things all better, but Hale’s voice stopped me.

“It’s fine. Let’s focus on what matter right now—getting out of this fucking darkness. The rest of it can wait.”

It wasn’t his words that silenced my protests. Instead, it was his tone, the devastation there. I let the conversation go because we were all too close to it. There was no way to see it objectively here, no way to not react with emotions.

So I let the darkness and silence smother all the questions, all the fears, everything that hung between us.

We only needed to focus on getting out of here and trust that we could fix all the broken pieces between us.

* * * *

Tyrus

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