"N-No."
"Still lying? I'll force the truth out of you, Dove. Don't you fucking worry."
At the last moment, before my will breaks, I pull away from her. I can see the disappointment in her eyes because it mirrors my own. But this is how I get the girl. I make her crave something, then yank it away before her palm can wrap around the prize.
"Let's go to bed, Dove."
"Where the fuck do you think you're sleeping?"
"Next to you," I smirk. "Maybe on top of you. Maybe you on top of me. Depends on my mood."
"Dream on." She hesitates before motioning to the couch. "You can sleep there, but tomorrow you have to find a new place to spend the night. I'm not playing hostess for some sicko from my past."
"Sure you aren't." She hesitates again. "Waiting for something?"
A goodnight kiss, perhaps?
"No," she finally mutters. "I have something else I need to do."
"Want me to come with you?"
"No," she replies sharply. "Go to sleep. And be gone when I wake up tomorrow."
I smirk, not replying, because there's no goddamn way I'm leaving. Not now, when I've got her eating out of the palm of my hand.
Chapter 19
Dove
There's only one person who can make me feel better after the night I've had.
I load up a paper bag with some food and juice boxes and leave through the backdoor. My head is pounding. Every thought I have revolves around Parker, or Nox, or whatever. But I force myself to push it all aside. He can't be the only person on my mind. I need to remember the people who really matter. Like Robin. Like Sam.
But there's a weird, sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach as I keep walking, turning the corner near the alleyway leading to Sam's spot. Like I'm about to walk into something terrible. And my heart sinks the moment I round the corner and see him.
Sam's leaning against the brick wall behind him like always. He's covered up with my old blanket, and still has the paper bag I last gave him next to him. But his eyes are open. Open in a way they shouldn't be, staring ahead blankly, unseeing.
"S-Sam?" My voice is already breaking, as if my body instinctively knows what's happened before my mind accepts it. My paper bag falls to the ground. I run toward him, stepping on a juice box as I do. The cold juice soaks my shoes, but I don't notice it. I don't notice anything.
I'm kneeling before him. His eyes, his kind, wise eyes, stare into mine, but he can't see anymore. I want to fucking scream, but when I open my mouth, no sound comes out. I know I'm breaking. My mind is in pieces, my heart in tatters at my feet. With shaky hands, I reach for my phone. I call 911 and rattle off my address, but when the operator asks me what's wrong, I can't bring myself to say it. Can't reduce my friend Sam to what he is now – just a body.
"Just c-come," I manage, and the phone drops from my hand as the full weight of what's just happened dawns on me. I can't move. I'm frozen to the fucking spot, eyes glued to Sam's unmoving gaze. Slowly, I lower my gaze to his arm. There's a needle sticking out of it. I swallow the scream fighting its way from inside me.
"You promised," I whisper. "You promised you wouldn't do that anymore. You promised, Sam. You promised!"
I start hammering my fists against his chest as the tears finally fall. In two months, I've lost the only two people who've ever mattered to me, and I don't know if I can live without them. I don't even know if I want to try.
"Don't leave me, you can't leave me, you can't do this to me. I'm not ready, Sam. I'm not ready!"
"Dove, Dove, Dove." The voice is calming and kind, but I know its owner is anything but. Gently, he pries away my hands from Sam's body. He holds me tight on the ground, sitting behind me and embracing me, rocking me back and forth as I scream my frustration at the world. I am breaking, but the sicko who ruined my life is here to hold the pieces together for a while longer.
He must've followed me after I left the house, which should only make me angrier, but for some fucked up reason, I'm grateful Nox is here.
Nox, a hero in the night. What the hell is his game?
By the time the ambulance pulls up with its sirens blaring, I feel numb. There's so much pain I don't feel anything anymore. My mind has retreated to a place where nothing can hurt it. Not even the man gently whispering in my ear, telling me everything's going to be okay.