Page 67 of Where's Molly

Except for me, apparently.

A couple of weeks ago, Legion called to inform me Eli was back on the job, but immediately, I knew something was off when he

Chapter Nineteen (SPLIT)

not-so-kindly told me to forget where Molly lives and stay away unless she contacts me herself.

That was all I needed to hear to recognize that she was running.

It shouldn't have surprised me. Yet, it did.

More than that, it fuckinghurt.

And it absolutely enraged me.

I have no doubts that Molly returns my feelings, except she’s completely fucking clueless when it comes to being able to handle those emotions.

She may not have ever been in love, but she also has never met another like me.

And what she seems to forget is that I willnevergive up on her.

I’ve left her alone for two weeks, sticking to the shadows nearly every night since I got that call. Just observing her go through the motions of life as if I'm not the one who gives it to her. Waiting to see if she’d crack and reach out to me.

She hasn’t, and my patience has waned.

God, how tempting it is to walk up behind her, wrap my hands around that dainty little throat, and show her that the only reason she can breathe is because I fucking allow her to.

“Fuck, you really piss me off,” I bite out beneath my breath. I plunge my hand into my pocket and pull out my pack of gum, popping two pieces in my mouth this time.

I wait until she's finished at the barn, clicking off the overhead lights before making her way out into the trickling rain. She's not carrying the bag of clothes and hair that she typically burns when she's finished, likely due to the rain. Which means she'll probably wait to scatter the teeth in the mountains.

Icontemplate leaving her be for another night. But that lasts all of half a second. My control snaps.

Legion will have to come out of hiding if he wants to try and stop me.

Two weeks without being able to inhale a full breath is torture enough.

Quietly, I make my way through the tall grass, keeping to the shadows as I approach her from behind.

She doesn’t sense me until it’s too late—her instincts having lightened over the past nine years.

She freezes, her shoulders stiffening and hiking to her ears, the panic snapping her spine straight. And then her damp, thick curls are fisted in my hand and I’m jerking her against my chest, my lips at her ear.

“For a little ghost with so many bones, you're just begging for me to break them,” I growl.

A sharp gasp breaks through the melodic pattering of rain, and a shiver races down her spine so violently I feel it through her skin.

“Cage,” she breathes, the pulse in her neck beating erratically. I’m tempted to press my teeth against it to taste something sweeter than the bitterness coating my tongue.

“What are you doing here?” she chokes out, resisting my hold. But I’ve let her pull away from me for long enough. She’s lucky I don’t sew her goddamn flesh to my own.

“Didn't I already tell you that I let you disappear on me once and I’m not going to allow it a second time? Did you think I’d just let you go so easily?”

“Yes,” she squeaks when I fist her hair tighter, gritting my teeth as my fury renews. Just when I think I’ve calmed, I’m reminded that she actually tried to ghost me.

No proper explanation. No phone call telling me she doesn’t want to see me again. Not even a fucking shitty breakup text. Just… silence.

“Then I suppose I haven’t made myself clear enough. Allow me to remedy that.”

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