Page 122 of Ghost Ribbon

You are not going to die, I thought.

I drove him to my place instead of his home.

He sat in the passenger seat of my car with his head resting against the window, watching the city blur past without seeing any of it.

By the time we reached my apartment, I unlocked the door and let him in first.

He went straight to the bedroom. He sat on the edge of my bed without a word, shoulders rounded forward, head slightly bowed, the line of his spine visible through the thin fabric of his shirt. His curls were falling into his face. His ribbon had slipped sideways at some point during the drive, hanging loose near his ear.

I knelt in front of him.

He blinked, startled, and looked down at me with confusion. “Alexei?”

I reached for his shoes. I loosened the laces, slid the shoe free, and set it aside.

When both shoes were off and placed neatly beside the bed, I looked up at him.

He reached out and touched my face. His fingers were cold.

They traced along my cheekbone, like he was memorizing something he was afraid of losing. His thumb brushed the corner of my mouth.

“You’re so beautiful,” he said quietly. “Have I ever told you that before?”

My heart stuttered. Actually, physically fucking stuttered.

That had never happened to me before.

But Marco was looking at me like I was something miraculous, and my heart forgot its rhythm.

I turned my head slightly and pressed my lips to the inside of his wrist, where his pulse beat against his skin. “You’re more beautiful, my star.”

His smile changed.

It saddened. The warmth stayed in his eyes but something was shadowing the light like clouds passing over the sun. “Alexei…” he said softly. “We don’t have to do this.”

I didn’t let him finish the thought. I rose from my knees, leaned forward, and covered his mouth with mine.

When I pulled back, I kept my face close enough that our foreheads nearly touched.

“Don’t continue that,” I murmured. “You know it’s useless. I already love you. It’s far too late to push me away. Now there’s nowhere you could run that I wouldn’t follow. Nowhere you could hide that I wouldn’t find you. So don’t ask me to let you go. I won’t. I’ll keep you alive for as long as I have breath to fight for yours. If the darkness comes for you, it will have to carve its way through me first.”

His breath hitched and I added, “You aren’t getting rid of me. And you will be okay.”

I said it like a fact.

Because in my mind, it was.

I would make it true if I had to tear the world apart to do it.

His eyes searched mine. For doubt. For hesitation. For any sign that I was performing conviction I didn’t feel.

He found none. Because there was none to find.

Then I changed the subject. “Have you told Rei?”

“No. He doesn’t know about my issue,” he said quietly.

“Don’t you both tell each other everything?” I asked.