“Something is only poisonous if you eat it,” he retorted. “Organisms that bite and inject you with poison are described as venomous.”
Jesus, fuck. “Is it venomous, then?”
“They’re black racers,” he pointed out, as if that meant anything to me. “What if I said it’s venomous, but I have anti-venom?”
“Let me go.”
“What if I said it’s not venomous, but it can bite?”
I gritted my teeth, the snake’s head nudging between my fingers. What the fuck? Why wasn’t it moving on?
“What if I said it can’t bite, only constrict?” he asked instead.
“What are you doing?”
“Or maybe it’s not harmful at all,” he told me, “but I might put some in your bed tonight? Would you fear them any less?”
“Aydin…” I started to pull at my arms.
He barked, “If you move, she’ll strike.” He glared at me. “Own it, Emory. Own this moment.”
What? I shook my head, my thighs tense as I got ready to bolt and fight and run, but…
“Don’t run,” he told me, reading my mind. “Don’t cry. Don’t get angry. Just let go.”
N…no. What…? The dirt shifted a few feet away, and I whimpered. Was that another one?
But he yelled, “Let go!”
I startled, resisting the urge to curl my fingers into the dirt.
“Look at me,” he said. “Look into my eyes.”
I snapped my gaze to his. Please…
“Look at me,” he urged again. “Hold my eyes. Don’t fight. Don’t rage. Don’t scream. Don’t give him your fear.”
I panted, staring into his brown eyes, tunneling deeper into the flecks of honey and amber.
“I am here,” he recited. “This is it, and I am not scared.”
I exhaled, sucking in another breath but starting to calm.
“I am not scared,” he repeated. “I am the eye of the storm. The calm in the madness.”
I blew out a breath, drawing in another, slower.
“The quiet in the chaos. The patience for my moment.”
My hand started to melt into the dirt, the snake shrinking and my heart starting to slow down.
We didn’t blink.
“I am the eye of the storm,” he murmured, and I was transfixed. “He did not happen to you, Emory. You expected it. It was supposed to happen. It was all part of the plan. You knew it was coming.”
I gazed into his eyes, his voice surrounding me like music as cool calmness swept through my blood.
“Nothing is ever a surprise,” he said. “Always act as if you knew it was coming the whole time. Pretend it was part of the plan. You move with the storm, Emory. Calm, quiet, patient, and then… Then you happen to him.”