Page 18 of Grave Devil
“Fine.For now. I gotta get back to the garage anyway. Mia’s meeting me there.” The only person who could tear me away from anything family-related is my unhinged little lamb. It’s been a couple of nights without her, and if I have to fall asleep fisting my own cock again, I’m going to have a nervous breakdown.
Lettie grins, finally chasing away the black cloud that was seemingly hanging over our heads. “You guys are so obsessed with her. Let me know when you can pencil me in for some time with my friend.”
I snort and tousle her hair, messing it up. “Yourfriend?” I tease. “Mia was mine first. But maybe I’ll let you hang out with her sometime in the next year.”
She playfully punches me in the arm as we stalk back to my yellow muscle car. “You are delusional. Mia will drop all four of you for me in a heartbeat if I ask her to.”
She’s not wrong. Mia loves us, but she’s a girl’s girl through and through. And I love that about her as much as I tease otherwise. “Okay, you win. C’mon, I’ll drop you back at the Crane Estate unless there’s somewhere else you want to go? I got the parts for your car this morning. I should have it fixed by the end of the week.”
“Yeah, actually, could you take me into town? I need to grab a few things at the market.” She types furiously on her phone. I hear the woosh of a sent text message four times in a row.
The engine roars to life, drowning out my response. But she’s not paying attention to me anyway. This girl is up to something dark again. I can feel it. But while still trying to figure out Mia, Nox, and where we all fit in together…Andwith all the Wild Hunt festivities coming up, I don’t have time to keep tabs on Lettie too. She’s a grown woman. I need to take her word and trust she can handle herself.
LETTIE CRANE
When I told my brother that I could deal with my own shit, I forgot to mention that myown shitwas actually getting cryptic messages from my ex. If Bones knew that Skyler was threatening to ruin me if I didn’t come back to Hemlock Prep, he would probably burn the whole school down.
I had the fortunate and unfortunate luck of being born into the Crane family. With two psycho brothers and a father with more power in Melancholia than most people even know, being the bubbly, perfect daughter is a survival tactic. And it has been a challenge.
But I’ve watched my mother fake it for years. The light can only hold so much darkness… The weight of it on my shoulders is what I’ve had to protect and endure. Whether it was by pretending not to listen when my father gave take-care-of-it orders over the phone, or by looking the other way when Bones came home from school with bruised knuckles, or even by acting like Felix’s outbursts at the dinner table weren’t more than just dinner theater.
I drank the poison, read the tea leaves, and bought the damn T-shirt. Crane business was dark, but it was for the men. That was the lie they told and the one I told myself. But it wasn’tuntil I let Arlo Erebus stick his tongue down my throat while he fingered me on the back of the school bus one morning that I realized what it was I really craved.
Newsflash, it wasn’t Arlo Erebus. Or any boys, for that matter. Living that kind of lie can either destroy you or make you the best performer on the planet. I became the latter. And then eventually I believed it myself.
But now, as I stand in the middle of the town square with car exhaust still wafting up my nose, gripping my phone like it’s a noose around my throat, that Crane darkness creeps back in. The craving claws at me. And no matter how loud that voice inside my head screams at me to turn around, I find myself heading directly toward Skyler’s studio.
I haven’t spoken to her or seen her in over a year. I had left Hemlock Prep and settled into Tenebrose Academy without looking back. I made new friends and eventually started to forget about the horrors I’d left behind. Until that night at Duff’s.
I knew I shouldn’t have come back to Ever Graves for break. I should have stayed at the Nest at Tenebrose. Especially since Libra finally escaped Absentia Asylum and was back in Raven’s Gate. I should have hung out and partied with her all summer.
Instead, I decided to come home to Ever Graves. I was feeling homesick. Especially after Bones told me our abuela’s health was deteriorating. I knew the risk. I fucking knew… But I came back anyway. I thought I could avoid them.Her.
But then they were at Duff’s that night. I told Mia I wasn’t feeling well. And that wasn’t exactly a lie. Watching the three of them gawk at me and whisper to themselves from across the roomwasmaking me physically sick. After everything we did… I was subjected to a mean-girl vibe in a dive bar.
The closer I get to her studio, the angrier I get. She better have a real good fucking reason to bother me after all this time.
My stomach knots. As I face the bright red door, hesitating and completely rethinking why I’m here, I almost make a run for it. But I knock anyway.Fuck it. My heart races as I hear her pad across the floor.
When the door jerks open, my breath hitches. Fuck. She looks… This fucking bitch. I hate that I still want her.Get it together, Lettie. She never loved you.“Skyler. You have some nerve blowing up my phone like this. I thought I told you to leave me alone.”
Her blue eyes sparkle, playful like the smug grin that pinches her lips. In a short white cotton strapless dress, she shows off the remnants of her tan, still holding strong despite summer being long over. Her skin glows, effervescent like champagne. It only makes her blonde hair look even more like spun fucking gold. It cascades down her back in loose waves. I force myself to hold her gaze. To not let my eyes wander down to the curve of her hips. My heart cannot afford the break again.
Skyler doesn’t flinch at my tone. She steps forward and pulls me into a warm embrace. “Hello to you too.” Scents of suntan oil, honeysuckle, and warm lemon custard envelop me.Sheis summer.If only I could bottle it up and take it with me.Fuck. I want to drown in it.
I don’t hug her back though. “We’re past that, Sky. Explain yourself.”
Like the sneaky bitch she is, she manages to scoot around me and close the door, locking us both inside her off-campus studio.
I try not to let the memories flood me as I take in the pink leather couches we danced on, the giant rose window that lets in just the right amount of light at sunrise, the stained glass casting a kaleidoscope of colors across her white marble floors. The way we slept on them in that exact spot so we could feel the warmth of the sun glistening on our bellies in the morning. I’d wake to her lips on my…
“We had some good times here, didn’t we, babe?”
I jerk back as her hand reaches for me. “Don’t call me that.”
She stalks forward, relentless, her eyes practically cackling with mischief. “You used to love it when I called you that. You still do. You know how I know?” She bridges the gap between us and nudges me back toward the breakfast table. “Because you’re a terrible liar,” she whispers.
When the edge of the table hits my thighs, I know I’m in trouble. “Back up, Sky. You texted me that it was urgent, so I came. Now get on with it.”
