Page 21 of Pretty Little Shadow
"Remember what I told you on the roof? I'd stopped believing I had a soulmate. I thought fate was just mocking me by putting a woman I actually wanted in front of me."
My face flushed. "You didn'treallywant me."
"That's bullshit."
"I saw the pictures. You were with random people every night, Darius."
"I haven't fucked anyone since I started working at the coffee shop—which was right around the time you and I went to that fight together. My family won't let me be alone for more than two minutes, and I get tired of them, so I find new people to hang with."
"If you get tired of your family, you'd definitely get tired of me."
"Not likely."
"Extremely likely," I corrected. "I can't be your mate."
"It's too late. Youaremy mate. And I'm yours."
"No."
"Yes."
"You want someone to fix you, Darius.I can't do that. I can't even fix myself."
"I think we can figure out a way to coexist. We'll deal with everything else when we get to it."
"I doubt it. The most social interaction I can handle is like five minutes."
"You were with me for at least half an hour."
"That doesn't mean we can bemates."
"We won't know unless we try."
I made a face. "Grayson said you have a plan. What is it?"
"I moved into your apartment. Looks like I came on grocery shopping day, because your pantry and fridge are empty."
"There's no grocery shopping day. I only eat takeout food."
There was a pause. "Nothing else?"
"Unless Grayson makes me eat something he's cooked, but that doesn't happen often."
There was another pause. "And you're not drinking blood? Other than mine?"
"No."
Yet another pause followed. "You must have some pretty strong shadows keeping you alive."
"Well, yeah. I eat more than enough takeout food, though." I brushed some hair out of my eyes. "I need a few days."
"A few days of what?"
"To wrap my head around everything. Alone. Without you living in my apartment."
Darius didn't reply. I heard my couch creak as he moved.That thing was totally going to break.
"I'm always alone, Dare. My situation is the opposite of yours. I can't handle being around people much. I definitely can't just be okay with you moving inwith me. I need time to process."
