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He captures the hem of my shirt and his knuckles brush the side of my stomach as he draws me back into the car "Then, why does it have to end?"

Is he asking what I think he is? My eyes travel to Raven’s second-floor bedrooht is on and I can almost hear her voice: Do it, do it, do it!

"You want to colance at his lustrous lips and then lickmy to a thousand incoherent pieces "At least until someone comes home; you shouldn’t be here alone"

"I a alone"

"You shouldn’t ever be anything other than what you are," he replies softly

I glance back at my house "Let me just run in and check to make sure the power is on first" Actually, I want to check that none of my family is around

He smiles and releases my shirt, and I cliht "Well, the power’s back on" I check in the living roo for me, but it’s empty and the house is as silent as the cemetery

I step back outside and wave for Asher to come in He cli slow even strides with his long legs He watches me with every step and I realize how happy I a with me If he wasn’t, then I’d probably wake up in a few hours, haunted by thoughts of death and reapers I’d grab o to the cemetery, where I’d jot notes about loneliness and pain Asher has the ability to distract h, and the silence he puts insidethat deathtouched, kissed, comfortably close to someone

I shut the door behind hi in a circle in the foyer There are photos ofon the wall Some I’m with Raven, some I’m with Ian There are even a few I’m with my mom and dad, back when life was all rainbows and sunshine, or at least when I believed it was But life was just waiting for me to pass it

"You look like your dad" He squints at a photo ofonso plastic nunchucks at an inflatable Santa Claus There is a Christhts The picture’s candid, and we look happy I want the moment back

I head for the stairs and Asher follows behindas we ascend the staircase; the htest elevation in temperature, the rhythm of his heart

When I reach lances at the drawings on the wall, the poeaze at the Reaper and then at the Angel on the wall across froar Allan Poe tacked to the closet doorframe

"If I didn’t know better, I’d think you have a crush on him," he says with a drop of aain, I really don’t know you" He faces me and cocks his pierced eyebrow "So is this my competition?"

"I’ up the raven feather off ht I put this away "I’m in love with his work"

"I remember from the party… You practically fell into my arms when I quoted the only line I know of his poetry" He teasessmile

I narrowme? Is that why you took off and left me on the dance floor"

He looks remorseful "I’m sorry about that… I just… there was somewhere I had to be"

"It’s okay," I say "I’d had enough of dancing anyway"

He gives me a small smile, then snatches the feather froers "Is this a raven’s feather?"

"Yeah, why?"

He shakes his head and hands the feather back to et it?"

"From the ce what an Angel feather would look like "They’re a pretty common bird"

The seriousness in his face fades intohow hard you went looking for it--how deep your obsession is with Edgar Allan Poe"

"Ha, ha," I say sarcastically, giving hiainst his chest He ss hard as we both freeze and then his gaze lands on my mouth "Am I allowed to kiss you?"

"You can do whatever you want," I say in an unsteady voice