“But we—”
“Sam.”
I shook my head, biting my tongue.
Ryan looked hesitant, but Morgan was already dragging him away before he could say anything. I waved him off before he could try to come back. He nodded at me, then turned and began to run through the city with Morgan. I liked seeing him go almost as much as I liked watching him come.
Randall was staring at me as I turned back toward him. “What?” I asked him, suddenly feeling defensive.
“We’re going to have a long talk, you and I,” he said ominously.
That… wasn’t good. “I didn’t do it, whatever it is.”
He cocked a massive eyebrow at me. “You don’t even know what I’m talking about.”
“And I’d rather not, if I’m being honest.”
“Sometimes we have to do the things we don’t want to do. I am going to hold your hand.”
“Um. Excuse me?”
Randall sighed and rolled his eyes toward the heavens. He said something under his breath that I couldn’t make out, but I told myself he was giving me the best of compliments and just didn’t want me to know. “I’m going to hold your hand.”
“Oh. Uh. Okay? Are you… scared?”
“And we’re going to run.”
“I can keep up! You don’t need to hold my hand. I’m pretty sure I can outrun you. They probably hadn’t even invented running yet when you were born.”
“I regret the day you turned those boys to stone.”
“Lie,” I said. “You like me. Somewhat.”
He glared at me.
“Don’t even. Morgan told me you think I’m super awesome.”
“Really. Morgan told you that I thought you were super awesome.”
“Okay, he didn’t exactly say it like that, but he might as well have! There was intent behind being damned with faint praise.”
“Gods help us all.” Randall grabbed my hand and pulled me until we were running at a good pace. He moved fast for an old fucker.
“I have a boyfriend,” I said quickly. “So no funny business.”
“I don’t think you have to worry about that.”
“Oh, please. I’m a catch. If I ever tried to woo you, you’d be swept off your feeeeeeAAAAAAAHHHH—”
I had never been teleported anywhere before.
I would be okay if I never had to repeat that process in my entire lifetime.
Because it sucked.
One moment we were running away from the Tilted Cross and I was randomly holding the dry, wrinkled hand of the oldest person in the world while—for some reason—trying to convince him that I could totally bone him if I wanted to.
And then the next, everything was swirling around us like it had been caught in some kind of vortex. It felt like I was being compacted, my entire body being shoved into the tiniest of spaces as I was yanked off my feet. The wind was rushing in my ears and Randall’s grip was biting into my hand, but I couldn’t be bothered with it, given that I was screaming at the sucking sensation, like we were being pulled under or through the surface of Meridian City.