Devoured: A Novel(64)

I tell that part of me to shut the f*ck up.

I’m breathless when the music ends and then Lucas pulls down the blindfold and holds up the last flashcard to nothing but silence. Then, my front door is shaking. Someone drums hard on the wood, the tempo as fast as my heartbeat. Suddenly, I’ve got this vivid image of the day in court months ago—how Lucas had drummed his long fingers on the table in front of him.

Lucas pulls me into his arms the moment I open the door, closing his arms around me. I bury my face into his shoulder as he says finishes the song. “Say that what happened isn’t it for us.”

I don’t care about Sam or the skeletons in his closet because it’s all shit that can be overcome. I only know that he’s here. Holding me. Touching me. Devouring me.

The red ribbons constricting my heart slowly unravel, fall to the ground. Free me.

“It’s not . . . Sir.”