Chapter 5

Ifound Elijah waiting patiently for me when I opened the door to the restroom. He had a leg folded with his foot firmly planted against the wall, arms crossed over his chest, and his eyes on the ceiling.

He looked thoughtful, almost … peaceful.

I glanced into the empty restroom behind my shoulder before I sighed and walked out.

“Are you ready?” I asked as I approached him.

He glanced down at me out of the corner of his eye as I wrapped an arm around his waist.

“Can I ask you something first, Mais?”

“Of course.”

“Do you trust me?”

“Always.”

“Then just follow my lead on this,” he said as he pushed away from the wall and ruffled my hair affectionately.

I nodded as he slid his hand into mine and pulled me toward the chips and candy aisles.

I stood idly by as he made selections for the both of us. The sound of the doorbell pinging drew my attention toward the front of the store, and I watched a couple enter, both heading straight for the register.

I smiled slightly.

That’s what true love looks like, I told myself wistfully, as the young man kissed his companion on the lips before turning to speak to the cashier.

I’d wondered sometimes what our lives would have been like if things were different. If we had been allowed to grow up together instead of being forced apart by Mama and Papa.

But as Elijah gave me a gentle nudge accompanied by a toothy grin, I knew that this was how things had to be.

Their love, while true, would never be what ours was.

Pure and vile, whole and fragmented, all-consuming and serene.

“Come on, Mais,” he said when I gave him a small smile. “Don’t compare apples to oranges. Especially not when we’re lemons.”

I giggled and rolled my eyes as I followed Elijah toward the front of the store. He reached around the young man to set down the snacks he’d gathered, then stepped back and pulled me in front of him.

While the young man didn’t seem to mind Elijah reaching around him, his little girly friend noticed.

But it wasn’t in the way I expected—it was in the way I hated.

I narrowed my eyes at her as I reached up and gently wrapped my hands around Elijah’s wrists, doing my best not to dig my fingernails into his skin.

After all, it wasn’t his fault that he looked the way he did.

It was Mama and Papa’s.

They had created something beautiful in our bloodline for once, and I couldn’t have been happier that it was him.

He deserved to be the one who others would look at in envy, because he had been through so damn much.

“Mais?”

I startled slightly as I glanced up at Elijah. “Hm?”

“The lady wants to know if we need anything else.”

I possessively pulled him closer to me, which made him chuckle under his breath. “No. I have everything I need.”

My statement was pointed.

Dripping with venom.

Rife with warning.

If she kept looking at him with those stars in her eyes, I’d pluck them out and shove them down her goddamn throat, not stopping until she choked and sputtered on the ground.

Elijah shook his head fondly as he leaned down and gave me a quick kiss on top of mine, then thanked the lady behind the counter.

He steered me out of the store, moving as quickly as he could, and once we were outside, he held the bag up to shield us from the sun.

“Huh.”

“What?” I asked, glancing up at him.

“I think he left.”

“What?” I asked again, only this time my tone was much more shrill and frantic.

If Mr. Mike left, he’d taken something with him that belongs to me.

“No. No, no, no, no, no!”

The word that tumbled out of me started as a whisper, then grew louder and louder until it became a shriek that would have even startled a deaf man.

“Mais, it’s okay—”

“NO!”

I pushed Elijah away from me as I raced across the gas station parking lot and toward the side of the road.

I glanced frantically up and down the road as tears stung my eyes, wondering how I would ever be able to get back something that was irreplaceable and special to me.

A car went by so quickly that the force of it speeding by almost knocked me down, but I quickly regained my balance.

Mr. Mike was gone, but he wasn’t going to get far.

And when I found him again, he was going to wish that he had never done such a cruel thing.

I’d show him that not all monsters looked the same.