Chapter 7: Amri

"You."

The word clangs through me with a finality I didn't expect to come from a complete stranger. I take my eyes off Damion, letting them travel to the man next to him and fully take him in. Blonde hair cropped close to his head with a single earring hanging from one ear in the shape of a black cross. Tattoos litter every square inch of showing skin and flow beneath his clothes, making me question how far that unique art continues down his body.

He looks like he's spent plenty of time in the gym, but he's lean enough that it doesn't look ugly – unlike those gym rats who look like they snort protein and live in the gym 24/7.

And those eyes, one green as leaves in the springtime and the other a dark hazel, with a minuscule amount of green showing through that one as well. Both stare straight into my soul, making me want to bare every single secret I've ever had to him just so he will praise me.

I open my mouth just to close it again when no words come out. Luckily, Damion asks him for me.

"What do you mean, her? "

Zain gently shoves Damion to the side and then comes to sit in the chair in front of me. "How long have you been here?"

"Um…" I look over to Damion to see if he has any idea what the new guy is talking about, but he looks even more confused than I do.

"Hello." Zain snaps his fingers in front of my face, bringing my gaze back to his. "How long have you been here at Melford?"

"Ten days," I say, my voice low with apprehension.

"Good, good. I got here in time then. How long will you be staying?"

I narrow my eyes in confusion, and a little in anger. Who is this guy to come in here and start asking me all these questions? His hand raises to snap his fingers in my face again, but I reach mine up and grab his wrist.

"If you get in my face one more damn time, I swear I will snap your wrist like a fucking twig."

He leans back in the chair and throws his head backward, letting out a laugh that would normally warm the area between my thighs if I wasn't so pissed off at him.

"You are a spitfire. I guess I should have expected nothing less if you caught Vincent's eye." He levels me with a scrutinizing look, taking in my hair, my face and my short, scrawny body in these gray scrubs that suddenly feel ugly again. His eyes shoot back up to my face and it looks to me like he starts to count each and every freckle that dots my pale white skin.

I clear my throat and narrow my eyes at him in confusion. "I'm sorry, Vincent?"

"So, a spitfire you are but you aren't very bright. Shame for all that flame in your hair to go to your mouth instead of your head."

"Excuse the fuck out of me?"

"You're excused, love."

His response makes me move my head back, and just when it looks like Damion is about to bust his top and interfere, I burst out laughing. Zain looks amused with me, but Damion looks half confused at me and half angry at Zain.

"I've got to give it to you, that was fucking funny. But I'm afraid I don't know who the hell you're talking about."

Zain looks like he's trying to hold back a laugh. His hand reaches up and starts to pull on the earring in his left ear, and I tilt my head as the cogs in my head start to spin, piecing things together.

I've seen that exact earring before, only in someone's right ear. Same black cross, same black diamond embedment. Vincent…. the initials on the painting – V.T.G. Vincent. Vincent Grimm.

"Fucking Reaper." I whisper, bringing my fingers to my lips to pick at them as my anxiety reaches a new high. How does Zain know Reaper? Reaper's real name is Vincent? Why didn't I ever know his real name? Who is Zain? And who is he to my Reaper?

I may be pissed at him, but he's still mine.

"Reaper. Vincent. Whatever you want to call him. I hear you two are quite close." His heterochromatic eyes turn condescending and even more scrutinizing than before.

"Wait, wait, wait." Damion slides into the booth beside Zain and looks from me, back to him. "You've seen the Reaper, too?"

Zain gets a cocky smirk on his face. "Seen him, talked to him, fucked him." He shoots me a wink. "Doesn't get much better than fucking the Grim Reaper."

My mouth drops open, and tears begin to fill my eyes. How dare he? How dare he act like I was special, that he wanted me? He already has someone. And to send them here to what? Rub it in my face?

Zain's hand shoots out and he uses two fingers to lift my jaw, effectively shutting my mouth. "Careful there, love, you'll catch flies."

My eyes burn with embarrassment and shame. "Don't you fucking touch me."

"But what if you ask me to?"

"In your fucking dreams." I snap back.

"No, but maybe in yours."

My eyes widen and I slam my hands on the table, readying myself to launch over the table and tackle him like I did Reaper last week. Damion shoots up and comes over to my side of the table, grabbing me by the waist and stopping me in my tracks.

"Amri, no, you just got out of solitary. You'll go back if you attack another patient."

His words make me think, and for a moment I think landing one single hit on Zain's perfect face would be worth the miserable space that is solitary confinement. Damion starts to run his hand up and down my back and urges me to sit down. All the while, Zain is staring at me from his side of the booth, his fingers gripping the table as I see a war waging in his eyes. He looks like he's about to snap, too.

"Mr. Nurse Man," Zain says through gritted teeth, "You need to get me out of here before Callyx comes out and shows this little girl why you don't try to attack us."

"What?" Both Damion and I question Zain .

"Callyx does not appreciate being threatened, especially by little girls who try to play pretend. So, we need to leave before he comes out and introduces himself, and I doubt the firedrake wants to be fucked on the table in front of all these nice people eating their lunch." Zain's knuckles have turned white from how tight he's gripping the table. His body has started to shake and he's beginning to slowly shake his head as he mutters to himself.

Against my better judgement, my body tingles at his words. God, what's wrong with me?

"What the fuck is he talking about?" I ask Damion.

"Callyx is his alternate personality, and he is…violent to say the least."

I look Zain over, seeing the tension in his body and the war in his mismatched eyes. He looks like he's fighting something. His alternate personality? I've read stories about people with multiple personality disorder who claim their alternates are like completely different people. Some black out and don't remember anything when their alternates take over. Their alternates have completely different mannerisms and ways of speaking, different fashion styles, interests and ways of thinking. Some people even claim their alternate can change their body chemistry.

All of these thoughts run through my head, making me wonder what's true for Zain and Callyx. Is it just them two, or is there more?

Damion nudges my shoulder, bringing me back to the present, and I find him looking at me strangely.

"Are you okay? I've called your name like five times."

I shake my head. "I'm fine.

"Good. I'm going to take him for a walk. I'll see you tonight, okay? "

I nod my agreement and watch as Damion grabs Zain's handcuffs and walks him out of the cafeteria doors toward the garden outside where we were earlier this morning. I didn't even realize Zain was wearing handcuffs, but I guess they make sense considering he can turn violent at a moment's notice.

Letting out a deep sigh, I let my mind wander back to Reaper. If I thought I was mad at him before, nothing compares to how mad I am at him now. Even then, though, the anger is nothing compared to the sadness I feel deep in my stomach, and the ache I feel deep in my heart.

All this time, even after he saved me, I thought I was something special to Reaper. Or should I say, Vincent. I guess not, though. I was a game to him. Someone to pass the time when he wasn't with Zain.

Well, I'm done being someone's game. Damion is offering me something good. Stability with someone who really cares about me, my mental health, and my safety, even when I struggle to care about it myself.

Zain can have Reaper.