I peeked at my phone, hit video, and pressed it between my lips to unlock the door.
“Daph?” Thay’s voice slithered up my spine, and I realized he was staring at the roof of my mouth. “What the fuck?”
“I’m trying,” I laughed, wriggling the lock and shoving past the swollen wood to drag my luggage inside. I spat the phone onto the table. “To open the damn door.”
The sea shack was small, with a kitchen at one end and a bed at the other. Off to the side, a bathroom and a narrow closet sat quietly in the low light.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, straightening the screen. “I, uh…” My eyes went wide, and all the blood in my body fell to my feet.
Thay rolled his neck, the collar of his white shirt popping into view when he gave me a look.
“Don’t fucking say a goddamn thing.”
I shifted my gaze down his blackberry suit, feeling the immensity of him, wishing I could touch it.
“Is Wolfe getting married?” I tried not to care. Of course, he would wait until I left to make Lyla permanent. “What is this?”
“Married?” he lifted his lip. “No. I am being dragged to the Underworld dickoff between the uppers on the water tonight. It’s this moonlight cruise thing, I don’t know. It sounds like shit.”
“He choseyouto be the body?” I shifted in the dark, searching for a light switch.
Damn, it was cold in here.
“Yep.”
Body meant playing guard, and I hated protection details because being chosen to absorb the hits was lose-lose when it came to Thay and Wolfe.
“Let me talk to him,” I continued to feel up the wall.
“No. I need to be there tonight. I have to ensure they take the bait.”
Awe. There it is. I flicked it on, squinting in horror. What in the hell! I turned it back off again, rubbing my temple to get rid of the stars.
“What do you mean, take the bait?” I asked when Thay released a slight smile that he refused to let hit his eyes.
“Not your business, Daph.”
I spun, hitting my knee on the table. “Shit!” I yelped, hopping into more wood.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
“Trying not to die in this kitchen!” I screeched, falling into the bedroom to find the nearest window. “I have to admit,” I said, throwing open the single pane of glass. “I am kind of jealous that everyone gets to look at you tonight.”
“Don’t be,” his voice sank. “They might all get to look, Daph, but you’re the only one who gets to see.”
I leaned into the unfamiliar current drifting through my new window, and suddenly I was tired. And not the kind cured by sleep. This fatigue was in my soul. In my body. In the way I needed him.
“Maybe I want more,” I confessed, writing my sins out loud.
“Maybe I do, too,” he said low.
I paused, glancing back into the phone, searching for the lie, but none was there. There was just Thay and his deadly eyes peering at me through long lashes.
“I’ll call you.” He nodded, and before I could say goodbye, the screen went black.
Like everything else.
The room was empty. Cold and unfamiliar. Just like the world without him.