Where were you today? I dropped onto the end of Tods bed and crossed my legs beneath me, then set my shoes on the floor. They landed on a pile of laundry he wouldnt get around to washing until he had nothing left to wear. At all.
Laundry day was my favorite day to visit for that very reason.
Work. I didnt get your text till this afternoon. He came out of the teeny bathroomthe only other room in his tiny suite in the reaper headquarters buildingholding two plastic cups of water. Im all yours now, though. What will you do with me?
What are my options?
Anything you want, Kaylee. The heat in his gaze set me on fire in all the right places. Time is on our side, youth is our immortal legacy, and you are all Ive ever wanted. This could be the best night of our afterlives.
Then what would we do tomorrow night?
Tomorrow, we top our personal best. He set the cups on the minifridge serving as his bedside table, and the dim overhead light cast highlights and shadows on every plane and ridge of his bare chest. I like a challenge.
I like you. I pulled him onto the twin mattress with me. Tod landed on his side, propped up on one elbow. I leaned down to kiss him, and when I started to pull away, his hand slid behind the back of my head, his fingers in my hair, holding me in place gently so our kiss would last. And last. And last...
When Tod finally let me go, my head was spinning, and that had nothing to do with the fact that I hadnt taken a breath in several minutes and everything to do with the fact that he made me feel alive. He was the closest thing to a drug that Id ever experienced, and I had yet to find a limit to what Id be willing to do to protect him. To keep us together.
Id spent most of my life setting boundaries. Lines I wouldnt cross. Lines I wouldnt let others cross. But with Tod, there were no boundaries. No limits. Time was not an issue. I loved him without reservation. Id given him everything I had and everything I was, and hed done the same. Hed given up his life for Nash, but hed been willing to give up eternity for me. Not just willinghed actually done it.
Id seen Levi, his boss, confiscate his soul and end his afterlife because hed refused to kill me and reap my soul.
We had eternity to love each other, but after the way our relationship had begunwith loss and death and sacrificeevery single moment felt like a gift neither of us was willing to take for granted.
Oh! I almost forgot. Tod rolled away from me and reached past the edge of the mattress to pull open the top door of the minifridge, which exposed the even more mini freezer. When he rolled toward me again, he held a small container of Phish Food, my favorite ice cream, and two plastic spoons. I know its small. This is the only size that would fit in the freezer.
Whats the occasion? I took the spoon he handed me while he opened the carton and peeled off the plastic seal.
Tuesday. He frowned and twisted to glance at the alarm clock on top of the freezer. For another forty minutes, anyway. He handed me the plastic seal and I licked ice cream from it, then leaned over to drop it into the trash can at the foot of his bed. Which was wedged into a scant foot of space between the mattress and the only chair in the room. His place was so small we could practically reach everything in the room from one end of the bed or another.
But it was all his. Ours, he insisted, on nearly a daily basis. We were the only two people in either world who knew exactly where his place was. Nash had been in the room, but Tod had blinked him there, so on his own, Nash couldnt find reaper headquarters again even if he wanted to. And he did not.
The rest of the reapers and my dad knew where the headquarters building was but not which room was Tods.
And the best part about Tods place was that there was no exit. Literally. The only door was the one separating the tiny bathroom from the small main room. There was no exit because reapers didnt need doors, and now I didnt either, and that was beyond convenient, because this way neither of us could lose the key. The absence of windows made things feel a little claustrophobic sometimes, but the fact that no one could burst in on us made up for that completely.
Do you have any idea how hot it is when you lick that plastic ice cream thing? Tods eyes were swirling when I scooted across the mattress toward him, rumpling the already chaotic mess of sheets and blankets. It never ceased to amaze me how disheveled his bed always was, considering that he rarely slept at all. If ever. Id never seen him sleep, anyway.
No. But youre welcome to tell me....
Its so hot Im considering opening another carton, just to watch the replay.
I smiled. Sounds like you need to cool off.
Thats not what I need. In fact, thats the opposite of what I need. But I might accept a short delay in the form of one of those little chocolate fishes.
Laughing, I dug a fish-shaped bite of fudge out with my spoon and fed it to him.
Mmm... This is the best part of being dead.
No, this is the best part of being dead. I kissed him, and his tongue was cold and he tasted like fudge. So I kissed him again.
We did that when you were alive, you know.
Yeah, but only for a day. Because Id died on the second day of our relationship. And... But never here. Never in absolute privacy. Never after my father went to sleep, in a totally separate building, with no idea where we are or what were doing. If I were still alive, my dad would be enforcing my curfew much more strictly.
I took a bite of ice cream and let it melt slowly in my mouth. Wed suffered a criminal lack of perfect moments since the day Id kissed him in the hall at school. There always seemed to be something or someone standing in the way of perfection, however brief, and that something was a hellion more often than not. But this moment was perfect. This moment was chocolate, and privacy, and bare skin, and cold mouths, and warm hands, and cell phones set on Silent.
I didnt want to ruin the moment, but Tod seemed to realize at about the same point I did that we could eat ice cream and hold hands, but if we didnt also do something constructive, we would look back on this moment plagued with guilt, when our lack of preparation got someone killed.
Someone who wasnt already supposed to die, that is.
Anything new with Sophie? he said, but his tone and the eye contact he was making with my mouth told me he was less interested in the answer than he was in...me.
Sabine says half a drop of liquid envy is more than enough. We were right about that. Turns out my cousin is a possessive little monster, though, so Sabines going to skip the morning dose tomorrow, because no one has any pre-lunch classes with Sophie, and we dont want her to...well...go psycho when no ones there to help.
Really? I think that might be kind of entertaining. Whats the worst that could happen?
You know how Laura Bell has this horrible Pat Benatar-from-the-eighties haircut?
I dont even know who Laura Bell is, and I cant honestly say I care about her hair. Your hair is the only hair I care about. He ran a strand of it through his fingers. And I love how it looks kinda red in the light, and how it feels when it trails over my skin when were
I could feel my cheeks burn. Well, Laura has tragically short hair, courtesy of Sophie, from back when Invidia was polluting the entire school with a monster dose of jealousy. Were trying to avoid as many civilian casualties as possible this time. Especially since the point of this whole thing is to keep the hellions from doing any more damage at Eastlake.
Great. Good plan. I approve. Now can we do that thing where your hair trails over...? He made a vague gesture encompassing his chest and my hair.
I laughed. In a minute. Business first. I slid another spoonful of ice cream into his mouth when he started to object.
I laughed. In a minute. Business first. I slid another spoonful of ice cream into his mouth when he started to object.
Fine, Tod said when his mouth was empty again. So, hows Emma holding up? Any more accidental syphoning?
Yeah, I said around a bite of chocolate-laced marshmallow cream. I think she was taking a bit of her sisters...pregnancy emotion this afternoon.
What emotion would that be?
Several at once, as near as I can tell. Fear. Grief. This fierce love for her unborn child, which was kind of amazing to watch. I mean, shes never even seen the baby. And she cant have felt it kick yet. I looked it up, and its too early for that, unless things are different for an incubus pregnancy. But she loves that baby like its the only thing she has in the whole world. Which wasnt true. But that didnt make the intense love Id seen in her eyes any less real.
I guess sometimes the parental bond begins in utero.
I guess. I sat up and put the lid on the ice cream carton, then handed it to him. Tod, do you ever wind up with any...extras?
Extra what? He swiveled on the edge of the mattress to put up the ice cream, and when he turned again, he handed me one of the cups of water, then took a sip from his own.
Extra souls.
Tod choked on his drink, then coughed while I pounded on his back. Dead people cant choke to death, but youd never know that from the way it still feels when you inhale water.
You okay? I said, when he finally stopped coughing and met my gaze.
He set his cup on the fridge without even glancing away from me. Kaylee, I know what youre thinking, and you need to stop thinking it. Seriously. It wont work.
Hes a baby. We cant just let Tracis baby die.
Yes, we can. We have to.
What is wrong with you? Angry and disappointed, I stood and stomped across the floor and into the bathrooma four-step tripand dumped my water into the sink.
Tod followed but hovered in the doorway. Giving me space but not giving in. Kay, listen to me. Please. Im not just being randomly cruel. I have nothing against Traci Marshall, and you know Id never intentionally hurt Emma.
Unless it was to save me. Hed hurt Em to save me. Hed hurt anyone to save me, and I didnt quite know how to deal with that knowledge.