Evanescent - By Addison Moore Page 0,22

my arms tight around her waist until we’re spooning.

“I wish I could say I’m sorry,” I whisper. “That it sucked of me to be comforting Wesley’s whoever-the-hell-he-is girlfriend, but I’m not. There’s nowhere I’d rather be than with you.”

Laken presses in with her spine against my chest. She reaches back and touches my neck, setting my insides on fire.

“I appreciate your honesty,” she rasps into the dark. “I hope you don’t mind if I’m honest, too.” Laken presses deeper into me as if she were trying to push through. “This is the only place I want to be. You’re the roof protecting my sanity, the walls holding up my will to survive. The Counts cast their shadow over my life and you cast the light.” We bask in silence on the heels of her ego-inflating words as I drink them down, swill them around in my mind and savor them. Laken smooths her back over my chest and fills me in on the Treasure ceremony, Wednesday night. “But I would totally rather watch a movie with you and Marky,” she says. “What do you think I should do?”

I press my lips together and take her in as the moon glows over her like silver. Laken trusts me, she wouldn’t go if I told her not to. A part of me doesn’t want to send Laken to any more brainwashing ceremonies. God forbid they achieve their purpose.

“I think it’s important you go.” I try to sound casual like I weren’t secretly disappointed. “We’ll do the movie another time.”

“Flynn says the Treasures are no big deal—that I need to dig deeper.”

“He might be right. Probe Wes. Find out where he’s getting the blood. Maybe play a mental game and catch him reading your mind, call him out on it and tell him you want those powers—so you can be just like him.”

Laken goes rigid. She holds a breath for longer than a minute before exhaling and melting back into me.

“I will. I’ll make sure we get our families back as quick as possible.”

Our families. Laken feels like family. She feels like she was made just for me. As if this interstate kidnapping—this horror that the Counts have brought upon us—was meant to be.

An hour slips by with Laken writhing her hips into my lap every few minutes. She pulls my arm under her soft chest and my boxers spring to life. I try to move and hide the evidence, but she follows me with her body.

“I think I’d better sleep on the floor.” I pop up on my elbow and scoot back.

She twists to face me.

“Why?” Laken snatches my fingers and holds on for dear life. A pale wash of moonlight rinses out her features, soft as marble. I glance down and see her nipples protruding from my sweatshirt like sirens.

“Because there’s only so much I can take before I cave. I’m a guy, we’re weak.”

A soft laugh trembles from her. “Oh, I don’t know—if a strong guy like you could take on a zombie or two, I think you could handle sleeping next to me in a bed for a few hours.” She looks at me from under her lashes, beckoning me to stay.

I take her in like this, a platinum goddess against the black velvet of my bedroom. She pushes back a notch, and I can make out the silhouette of her body—a perfect hourglass that I’d love to manhandle for the next few hours. And if she grinds those hips into me one more time, I just might.

She licks her lips awaiting an answer, and my hard-on blooms to life.

“Like I said”—I climb over her—“I’ll take the floor.”

Wesley

Tuesday, while the skies turn an ashen sage and the hillsides glow neon from the deluge of rain, I walk Laken to her final class of the day, cheer.

“Do I wear anything special tomorrow night?” Her eyes glow against the sodden backdrop. The Minotaur hovers behind her with his overexposed bonze eminence and makes Laken look like a Greek goddess from long ago. I could be the warrior who’s trying to free her from captivity—the stronghold of her mind.

I brush my thumb against the high ridge of her cheek. She’s so perfect it doesn’t seem believable. Every person has a flaw to call their own, some more discernable than others, but Laken remains unblemished—the perfect canvas, the landscape of Eden.

“You’re amazingly handsome.” She winces when she says it.

I give a little laugh. “I was thinking the same thing about you. God’s a