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As hten around his waist, he moves his lips back from mine and brushesvery still, halfway inside me, and his eyes are concealed by indecisiveness "This is your first time… isn’t it?"

Is it that obvious? I nod ripping onto hi hihtens, not in pain, but in restrain

"It’s okay," I tell hi use to hi downthe buhtly, he thrust himself inside me, and my eyes roll back as my back bends upward

"God… E mine, and our chests rise and fall in harain, the pain subsides and is replaced by sheer and wonderful pleasure Iharder and harder He holdsout I stab roan as his movements beco floodsas he bites atand le With one last deep thrust, a jolt of heat spirals throughin sheer ecstasy as I fall apart My legs tighten around hiasp, barely able to breathe

Moin to slow and become jerkier, then he stills His head is tipped down and his breath is rapid and hot against my neck as he kisses it

"E Perfect Flawless Absolute Undyingly and everlastingly wanted and needed" I whisper the words I will later sketch onI felt with it

He s to say incredible, but those work too"

A smile turns at my lips and I pull hi kiss, he pulls out of ether His arm is tucked under ht’s events In the heat of the blistering otten about the car crash and my death Just like that But why? Because I had sex? For soht be ift hiift of silence perhaps

"What are you thinking about?" he asks, playing with my hair

"Life and death," I admit

He hesitates "You know you can tell ht? I feel like… I don’t know it feels like you keep things to yourself, like you think that for some reason you can’t trust anyone"

My dad’s words dance throughyou need to know about life, it’s to never ever trust anyone or anything Life is a fucking aet to know s bottled up in you"

"So do you, like with your father You don’t like to talk about him and you never did fully explain why you ue "I’m so sorry I don’t knohat my probleles in every spot he touched me

He ss hard "No, it’s okay" He slides down so we are at eye level and presses our bare chests together "You want to know so about me, then I’ll tell you… I moved here to escape the memory of my dad Even after he died, the painful memories of when he was around still stayed in the house, which he left ether… the memories were everywhere and I needed an escape--an escape from death"

"I completely understand" I feel like a bitch "I shouldn’t have forced you to tell me that"

"I wanted to tell you" He tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear and momentarily devours me with his lips "Because I want you to feel cos with , spill out ain, my dad’s words echo intest to see how long we can survive"

I tuckfor him to leave

"Do you want to hear what my tattoo means?" he asks, his voice soft like a feather

I’et mad or think I was insane "Yeah, I’d love to hear it"

"It’s actually a story my father used to tell ainst his chest and his heart beats swiftly against my palm "Blackness caped the land and possessed the bodies of the mortals Fire acquired over the fields and fa and the Angels of Death suffered It was the end, but a single sacrifice reversed it all One beautiful Griel with death in her blood and on her shoulders connected thele choice she would save the world But the fight would not be easy Death would play with herthey could to protect her She would struggle with right and wrong andthe way, but in the end, she would have to ht choice; otherwise, Death would win and hu"

"But what does that row heavy as I start to doze off "And ere they fighting to begin with… Aren’t they both death? Or was it over…" Souls I try to open my lips to ask hi exhaustion possesseslate," Asher whispers, tenderly kissing the tip of my ear "I’ll stay here until you fall asleep"

My eyelids flutter open "Okay…"

Seconds later, I drift off into a dreamless, death-free, sleep

Chapter 15

I’row louder the longer it goes on Finally, I throw the blanket off one and hts flash outside myI pull on a t-shirt and a pair of shorts and stumble into the hall

The last time the cops showed up, Ian had wrecked the car My mom went easy on him because Alyssa’s death was a fresh wound, but he was in the hospital for two days recovering from severe head trauma

I throw open the front door Two uniformed officers stand on the front porch One’s short and lumpy and the other tall and bulky A cop car is parked in the driveway andthe scene in their paja up their burn-her-at-the-stake expressions