crack open my worn copy of Dead Until Dark and snuggle into the bed. I’ve been on a vampire kick lately, so I’m revisiting some of my favorites. This series never disappoints, and if anyone asks, I’ll always be Team Eric.
I must fall asleep at some point because I wake with a jolt and the book clatters to the floor. The room is dark, and I’m trying to figure out what woke me when I see the shape of a man standing next to my bed. A scream bubbles up my throat, but he slaps his hand over my mouth before I can release it.
“Kail, it’s me.”
My eyes snap up to his, and I’m trying to make out his face, but I can’t. Sensing this, he turns on my bedside lamp, and my galloping heart seems to stop completely when I find Landon staring back at me. I pry his fingers off my mouth and take a deep, gulping breath.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I just needed to see you.”
My tortured boy is back. His eyes are a stormy sea of gray, and for a moment, I can’t help getting lost in them all over again.
Our knees touch when he sits on the bed. His warmth penetrates my icy heart like the sun, dissolving the small barrier I had only just erected to keep him out. Why does he make me feel so weak? Why can’t I just feel nothing for him when I know it’s the best thing for me?
“What are you doing here?” That’s the question that comes out of my mouth, but all I really want to ask is if he’s okay. Where has he been? What has he been doing? And did he miss me too?
“Kail—” His voice cracks, and emotion chokes the light from his eyes as they move over my face.
Right now, he’s looking at me like I’m the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen. I wish I could believe it. I wish we could rewind time and change so many things, but we can’t.
“I need to talk to you.” He reaches for my hand, but I pull away.
I burrow deeper into the comforter, hoping it will protect me from flinging myself at him the way I want to. “I don’t think there’s anything left to talk about between us. All we do is hurt each other.”
“I know.” He rests his open palm between us. “But that’s why it’s so important. I’ve realized something—”
The bedroom door flies open, startling both of us. My mom and Theo rush into the room in their pajamas with matching expressions of concern.
“What’s going on here?” Theo’s eyes move back and forth between us.
“Shit,” Landon groans.
“We had a silent alarm installed.” Theo tugs the hem of his tee shirt down, and I can tell he’s packing his handgun.
“Kail, are you alright?” my mom asks.
“I’m fine.” I offer her a reassuring smile. “Landon just came back home. He didn’t want to disturb you guys, but he wanted to say hello. He’s leaving now.”
His face falls, but I tell myself this is how it has to be. We’ve been at war too long. We’ve both flung poison arrows, and we hurt each other repeatedly. But Landon crossed the line from fair play when he went to Audrey and shattered me. There are just some things you can’t come back from.
I can feel his eyes on my face. He wants me to look at him, but I can’t. Eventually, the silence lingers too long, and he has no choice.
“Yeah,” he says, woodenly. “I just wanted to give Kail her birthday present.”
He slides a small velvet box onto my nightstand and gets up reluctantly, glancing at me one last time.
“Great.” Theo gestures for him with a stern expression on his face. “Then you won’t mind having a word with the two of us downstairs.”
They leave, and my eyes dart to the box several times. I consider shoving it into the drawer so I don’t have to look at it, but I don’t know who I think I’m kidding. I have to look at it.
I open it up to find a rose gold anatomical heart necklace. It’s morbidly beautiful in an unusual way, and I can’t help tracing my fingers over the fine details. There’s a small, folded piece of paper beneath it, and when I pluck it out, I’m not sure my own heart can take it if I look at what he’s written inside. But I do.