Page 14 of Roses & Ruin

“Shut up. My turn to talk now.” Noah’s smile is ugly. He grabs my wrist, and I scream. Noah’s fingers wrap around me, a squeezing grip grinding my bones—

Then suddenly, it’s gone.

Noah is somehow rolling around on the grimy asphalt, six feet ahead, struggling to get back on his feet. I stop breathing. That’s impossible. How? A shadow twists from the brick walls. In the space of a single blink, the towering silhouette of a man appears between Noah and me. I can’t see his face, only the muscles rippling across the furious set of his broad shoulders, his long, rigid fingers curled into claws.

“You’re dead,” Noah shrieks when he’s back on his feet, staring down at his cradled wrist. “I’m gonna kill—” Noah looks up into the man’s face and immediately freezes. His jaw drops. His eyes bulge. His face turns the color of soured milk.

“If you ever touch her again,” snarls the man, and I sway on my feet because I know that voice. Deep, lush, dark, it’s a voice that haunts my bones, has haunted them for over a year.

“I w-won’t, I swear, I swear to god.” Noah scrambles away so violently, he slips on a wet puddle and stumbles again.

When Noah’s footfalls fade, the man rolls his shoulders, cracks his neck. His hair is thick, windswept. The color of the night sky.

I can’t blink, too afraid he’ll vanish. Please let this be real, I think.

I reach out a quaking hand.

“Get back inside.” He turns around, and there he is—no man, but a boy, the boy, the boy who saved my life. “Now.” Even with his cold fury, his low, rich voice is making me dizzy. I close my eyes, take a steadying breath. When I open them, he’s already several strides away, his long legs carrying him almost out of sight.

“Wait a minute.” I sprint after him, and this time, I manage to snag his sleeve. As soon as I touch him, he jerks out of my reach. I don’t have time to nurse the sting. The boy has whirled around, is looming over me, his eyes a black storm. Slowly, he backs me up against the side of the building.

“You don’t get it, do you?”

“Don’t get what?” I whisper. I feel this sudden, inexplicable urge to trace my fingertips along the cord of muscle up his neck. To press myself against his lips.

Something flashes across his face, and he recoils. Pushing off the wall, he puts distance between us, turning his back to me.

“You’re lucky I was passing by.” He scrubs a hand across his jaw. “Go back inside. Before someone worse comes along.”

“Worse than you?” I say, breathless.

He pauses. Shakes his head. When his shoulders twitch, just the tiniest bit, I realize he’s breathing a laugh. There’s nothing pleasant about his amusement.

“Like I said, you don’t get it.” He glances over his shoulder, and I flinch at his expression. “There’s nothing out here worse than me.” He turns away again, and this time I know it’s for good.

Or it should be. I should listen to the terrified thrum of my heart. The ice in my veins. But I can’t help but try one last time.

“I know you,” I call after him. “Surely…surely you know me?”

He doesn’t break his stride, even a little. “Nah.” Doesn’t even turn his head when he shouts, “Never seen you before in my life.”

I blink once, and he’s already gone.

Chapter 5

“I’m serious,” Delia snarls, pounding her fist into her palm. “I’m going to kill him. I’m going to hunt that piece of shit down and rip his fucking throat out.” She’s pacing the small space in front of my bed. I’m sitting up, swaddled beneath my blankets, while a gentle rain taps sweetly against our window.

I just told her what happened with Noah last night. After the million apologies and the creation of a secret signal we can use next time (tugging on our right earlobe), Delia is now in the anger stage.

“Did you at least have a good night?” I tuck my knees to my chest. Delia shoots me a guilty look. With a sigh, she flops onto my mattress, hands folded over her stomach.

“I did. But I shouldn’t have. I should’ve known something was off with Noah.” She thumps a fist against her forehead. “Did anything else happen? How’d you get away from him?”

When Delia swept into the room this morning, sunny-cheeked and bright-eyed, I told myself I wouldn’t ruin her mood. But she noticed immediately, of course, when I was curled beneath my comforter with red and swollen eyes. It had felt so good to tell her about last night, about how scared Noah had made me.

But right now, despite everything, the biggest reason I am shivering in bed, confused, heartsick, and completely scrambled, actually has very little to do with Noah.

He has now saved me twice, this mysterious boy who apparently does not exist.