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.I hold his shirt against my head with my right hand so that I can reach over and lay my left on top of his forearm.He immediately shifts to lace his fingers with mine, and I close my eyes.He squeezes my hand every few seconds as he drives, and I squeeze back.And I can’t bring myself to feel anything but relief at feeling this close to him again.I must fall asleep even though he asked me not to, because I come to with my door open and his hands on my face.“Damn it, Kalli.I’m taking you to the hospital.”“No.I’m up.Sorry.Just … just take me inside.”He helps me from the vehicle, his arm wound tight around my waist, and I lean my weight into him.Even through the rain, he smells familiar.Like Wilder.I fish my keys out of my pocket and hand them to him, and he pushes through the front door and leads me straight to the bathroom that sits across from my bedroom.“What time is it?”“Midnight.”No, not quite.“What time is it exactly?”He glances at his watch.“Two til.”One look in the mirror reveals his white shirt is tinged pink by water and blood.I drop it in the sink, knowing it’s well past its usefulness.“Hey!” Wilder grabs a hand towel off the holder by the sink and tries to press it over the wound on my forehead, but I put a hand out to stop him.It’s still bleeding, but just a slow trickle.The rain washed away most of the blood from before, but there are still a few marks and stains.Two minutes.I kick off my shoes and hold out my hand to Wilder.“What’s going on?”“We’re getting in the shower.”“Kalli.” He still doesn’t take my hand, so I turn and push aside the curtain instead.I step in the tub, still wearing my dress, rust-colored stains splotched down the front.It’s a barbaric replay of our first night together, but this time we’re at my apartment, and instead of kissing him, I’m about to change everything about the way he sees me.About the way he sees the world, too.I start the water, letting the faucet run and the water warm up for a few moments, and Wilder steps inside.I turn to face him, and I mentally estimate, “One minute.”I pull the knob to switch the showerhead on.I wait, letting the water run down my back, and I know the second it hits midnight.The dull throbbing in my head disappears, and the overhead light in the bathroom no longer makes my eyes water from the sensitivity.I lean back, letting the water run over my head.I lift my hands, intending to rub away at whatever blood is left on my now healed forehead, but Wilder grabs my arms and pulls them away before I can do more than smudge it.I meet his eyes, pulling one wrist free from his grasp, and with him watching, I rub my fingers over the spot where my head had apparently hit a lamppost earlier as I fell.I don’t just hear him suck in a breath; I feel it too.His grip tightens around my arm, and his body locks up next to mine.He starts to step away, but it’s my turn to grab hold of him this time.“Wait.Don’t go.”He stares at me for a long moment, and I can feel tears welling at the corner of my eyes.This could be it.This could be the moment he walks away from me.His fingers graze my cheek, and he steps in closer.His height puts him looking down at me, and he rubs his thumb across the skin just above my eyebrow, just below my former injury.His eyes dip down to mine briefly before returning to my forehead, then he tilts my head back, leaning me into the line of the water again.It sprays against my hairline, smoothing through the knots and clumps left by the rain and blood.He runs his thumb over the unblemished skin there—back and forth, back and forth—as if he needs to touch it to believe his eyes.“How?” he finally breathes.Here goes.“I’m—” Not human.Not like you.Not normal.“Immortal.”He doesn’t react.He doesn’t call me a liar or crazy.He doesn’t ask me any questions.He doesn’t say anything at all.So I keep going.“I’m a muse.”Chapter Twenty-FiveWilderI can’t stop staring at the smooth olive skin on her forehead.There was a cut there.Not just a cut.The skin had been broken, and it had bled and bled.It bled so damn much.But now there’s nothing there.I can’t decide if I want to be afraid or worried for my sanity or to pinch myself to wake up.Maybe that was it.Maybe I missed Kalli so goddamned much that this was some elaborate fantasy dream gone wrong“Wilder, say something.”Her arm smooths over my bare bicep and presses hard against my chest.“You feel real,” I mumble, more for me really, than her.“Of course I’m real.”She’s always felt too good to be true.How beautiful she is.The pull I felt to her from the very first moment I saw her.The way we both fell so quickly and so hard.Am I crazy? Is that what’s happening here?“Wilder, did you hear what I said?”“Yes.No.I don’t know.”How the hell is this happening?I touch her forehead again.“How?”“I told you.I’m immortal.”The word doesn’t really register in my head.And if she told me, I must not have heard her.Maybe I really am going crazy.“Immortal … like live forever immortal? Like a vampire or something?”She grabs my wrist, pulling my arm down in front of her.Her index finger traces over my forearm, down the form of Atlas tattooed on my skin.“Like this.When I told you that my name is Kalliope, you mentioned that you remembered a goddess by that name.” She pauses, her eyes searching mine.“I’m her.”Water is still spraying around her head and shoulders, and maybe it’s a trick of the light or maybe it’s part of my delusion, but she does look ethereal all of a sudden.The spray creates a halo effect around her head, and the water sluices down over her perfect skin.Her clothes cling to her form, and she’s a modern day statue.Fabric draped against her breasts, revealing beautiful curves and lines.One second I’m standing up looking at her, and the next my knees have given out and my back is slamming into the shower wall as I fall down into the tub [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]