Page 140 of Nobody's Ghoul
“Bertie wants us at the Community Center.”
He hummed again, his fingers running softly over my shoulder.
“We’re gonna need some place bigger than that, I think,” I said.
He didn’t say anything, but his breathing was becoming more rhythmic, lengthening.
“You asked me. Yesterday. How many gods I invited.”
“Okay,” he mumbled.
“I invited all the gods,” I said. “All of them. Even the ones who aren’t in Ordinary.”
He grunted and then chuckled. “We’re definitely going to need something bigger than the Community Center. Beach?”
“Too cliché?”
“Forest?”
“Maybe.”
“We could do it here on the lake,” he said softly, his words a little fuzzy.
The song ended, and the tick of the clock I’d hung in the laundry room tacked down the edges of the darkness. I knew I didn’t have to decide right now. I knew Ryder was almost asleep.
But it was important. To be a part of this. To let him know.
“Anywhere,” I said. “Anywhere there’s you, I’ll be there. Just let me be with you. Never let me go.”
I wove my fingers into his, and he was just awake enough to slot them together the way that worked best. Our way.
“Love you, Laney.”
“Love you, Ryder.”
His hand stilled on my shoulder, and beneath my ear, his heart—my world—beat strong and steady.
