Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 90672 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90672 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
He’s so patient with me. So attentive.
“And I think it would be better if Luke and I did this alone,” he adds. “It might help Luke relax a little bit.”
“Fine,” Seth says. “I have a group project to work on anyway.”
“Yeah, that works,” Cody says. “Do you mind if I take the Sinners’ bible back? You can totally hang on to it for longer if you want. I just prefer to keep it safe.”
“I would like to look at it some more,” I say. “And I’d like to see what you’ve translated too.”
Cody and Seth eye one another uneasily, and Cody says, “Luke, it’s not that we don’t understand why you’d want to see it.”
“But we can’t just hand over basically all our secrets to someone we barely know.”
I turn to Brad, wondering if he feels the same. “Maybe just not now. But once we’ve all become better acquainted, and everyone’s comfortable, except maybe Seth…”
“Ha…ha…” Seth drags out, sneering.
I can’t really blame them, considering they don’t know me or really understand my connection to the Slasher. But it sucks knowing there’s this connection to my dad I don’t have access to.
“I can pull out some pages that are just about the historical parts—Dobbers writing about your dad. I’ll give you those tomorrow, if that works.”
I feel tears stir—that’s very considerate of him. “That would be nice. Thank you, Cody.”
Cody and I swap information before he and Seth head out. As soon as the door at the top of the stairs closes, Brad sets his hand against my cheek, running his thumb across my bottom lip. My body relaxes as I tilt my head, taking his thumb into my mouth and biting gently.
“You know how hard it was to keep my hands off you that whole time?” he asks, sending a surge of energy coursing through me.
“Well, nothing’s stopping you now,” I say, and he moves quickly, pushing his lips against mine, our tongues colliding as he drags me to the floor so that I’m under him.
“Brad, you’re gonna fuck up the pentagram.”
“I’ll fix it later,” he says before kissing down to my chin, offering a quick bite, then trailing kisses down my neck. “How about we get off real fast before getting back to this?”
A wave of heat overtakes me. “Doesn’t have to be that fast.”
He laughs into my neck before nibbling again.
And if this is part of what these lessons involve, I’m all in.
16
BRAD
Over the course of the next week, I continue working with Luke on overcoming this first, basic hurdle.
Just like when we tried to scare him off, he’s no quitter. It’s one of the qualities I admire about him.
Hell, the fact that he saw those images of the Slasher and immediately wanted to stop it rather than getting on a plane back home says a lot about him.
Since Sunday, every evening we’ve met up at the old church and gotten right to work.
Maybe not right to work. We’ve been guilty of some good fun. We tell each other it helps us focus on his lesson, but it doesn’t make keeping our hands off each other that much easier, especially when he looks so damn cute when he’s serious and trying to focus on using his powers. We usually have to end our sessions the same way we start them, which makes his teacher very happy.
On Thursday, Luke is as focused and determined as ever, but despite an hour of attempts, he grunts, and not for any of the fun reasons.
“My arm’s going to sleep again. Are you sure I’m gonna be able to do this?” he asks, relaxing it at his side.
“I know it’s frustrating, but anytime it feels like you can’t, maybe just think that even Seth figured it out.”
“If you think I haven’t been motivating myself with that, you’re out of your goddamn mind.”
I chuckle and check the time on my phone. “It’s almost nine. How about we get out of here? I assume you’re heading to Alpha Alpha Mu’s Halloween party?”
His expression twists up. “Alexei told me about it, but the last thing that’s been on my mind is a fucking party. I’ve been reading those pages Cody gave me.”
“How does that feel?” In some ways I’m sure it’s a relief, in others a painful reminder of what he’s lost.
His gaze wanders. “It’s…a lot. Dobbers is talking about Dad learning to use his telekinetic abilities, which evidently, he had a better handle on than me, whereas Dobbers was better with telepathy. I guess you know all this already?”
I nod.
“It’s not just about getting my mind around what Dad was doing. My whole perspective of reality has shifted. It’s overwhelming.”
He takes a breath, and in it, I hear how exhausted he is. Between everything we’ve expected him to come to terms with and pushing him to use his powers, it’s simply too much.