My Hush Hush Life

I laughed, but my expression quickly turned serious. Even with considerable concentration, I could
hardly remember what life had been like without Patch. At night, when I lay in bed, I could remember
with perfect clarity the low timbre of his laugh, the way his smile curved slightly higher on the
right, the touch of his hands—hot, smooth, and delicious on my skin. But it was only with serious
effort that I could pick up memories from the previous sixteen years. Maybe because those memories
paled in comparison to Patch. Or maybe because there was nothing good there at all.

“Don’t ever leave me,” I told Patch, hooking a finger in the collar of his shirt and pulling him close.
“You’re mine, Angel,” he murmured, brushing the words across my jawbone as I arched my neck
higher, inviting him to kiss everywhere. “You have me forever.”

“Swear you’ll never stop loving me,” I whispered.

Ever so slightly, he nodded.

I gripped his collar and pulled him against me, kissing him more fervently, sealing the promise between us. I locked my fingers between his, the sharp edge of the ring biting into our palms. Nothing
I did seemed to bring me close enough to him, no amount of him was enough. The ring ground deeper into my hand, until I was certain it had broken skin. A blood promise.

When I thought my chest might collapse without air, I pulled away, resting my forehead against his.
My eyes were shut, my breathing causing my shoulders to rise and fall. “I love you,” I murmured. “More than I think I should.”