Where the Devil Says Goodnight (Folk Lore #1) - K.A. Merikan Page 0,56

Adam occupied. A sinking feeling in his chest deepened whenever he thought of just letting Adam leave. He couldn’t explain it, but he knew that if he now let Adam walk out, the forest would reach out and swallow him whole.

“What did you see there?” Emil led the way with a candle in hand, trying to ignore tremors of pain each time he moved and stretched the injured skin.

Adam exhaled, keeping himself close, as if he wanted to make sure he could grab Emil for safety if the monster only he could see left its shadowy corner. “It has red eyes. Like the serpent in the church,” he whispered, opening the bedroom door and grabbing Emil’s wrist to lead him into the hallway. His face was pale, as if he’d been sick for a long time, and Emil already missed his earlier flush. He clearly tried to keep his gaze on the way ahead, hunched over, as if he expected an attack. Could this even be possible? That they were dealing with a poltergeist? Some unnatural force? With… magic?

Emil couldn’t reach most of his injuries and needed help, but he also wanted to occupy Adam’s hands, and as soon as they reached the kitchen sink, he handed him a clean sponge.

“Sit. Sit down,” Adam told him, his naked body moving like a robot whose joints hadn’t been oiled, his gait stiff and speaking of discomfort. He wouldn’t look at Emil as he picked up a metal bowl from the shelf and filled it with cold water.

“We… maybe we should go to the church and see if there’s any signs of… paranormal activity.” Emil was making an effort to make sense of it all, because showing that he was freaked the fuck out wouldn’t help anyone.

“Not in the next twenty minutes,” Adam said, searching through the cupboards until he found stacks of clean tea towels. He soaked two in a bowl and placed them over Emil’s back. Their cool touch provided instant relief to Emil’s burnt flesh.

It was so rare that someone took care of Emil that his toes curled with the simple pleasure of someone offering him help. He gave Adam a sheepish glance, and the sight of his naked body was all the painkillers Emil needed. "Did he hurt you in any way?"

Adam squeezed on the edge of the table top, and he averted his gaze before approaching a wall-mounted hook where Emil had hung his bathing towel earlier. Adam tied it around his hips, and looked up. But as soon as their gazes met, he crossed his arms and shrugged.

“He made me do something I didn’t want.”

Heat vaporized from Emil’s burns and went to his head. “What are you trying to say?”

“What do you think?” Adam asked in a tight voice.

Emil clenched his teeth, stung by the excuses. They’d had so much chemistry Adam couldn’t deny himself contact with Emil despite his misgivings. And now he was trying to convince Emil nothing about the way he’d given himself to him had been real? This had to be one of the most insidious things he’d ever heard. “I don’t like what you’re suggesting here.”

Adam took several deep breaths, his throat moving rapidly as he swallowed. “It doesn’t matter whether you like it or not. I’ve told you so many times I don’t want anything like that from you or anyone. Maybe you should have noticed something was off. I don’t know,” he said, his voice rising in pitch.

Emil opened his mouth in protest, but then closed it in disbelief. All of a sudden, he wanted a towel too. Once again, he wanted to confront Adam, tell him to stop hiding behind some imagined entity and take some responsibility for his actions, but the sting in his back stopped him, a reminder that nothing was normal about this night. He felt sick at the thought that if Adam was telling the truth, what they’d done had nothing to do with Adam shedding his inhibitions and everything with a dark force that had chosen to fuck with their lives.

“I’m only human,” Emil mumbled, but when Adam stayed silent, he did too.

Despite the tension that felt heavier than a down comforter in the summer, Adam soon returned to his side and tended to the burns with gentle care that amplified the sense of guilt rotting Emil’s insides.

And the worst thing about it all was that no matter what, Emil couldn’t get the sex out of his head. For him, everything they’d said