Haunting-Adeline

worse and probably end up leaving. And oddly, that would just serve to
make me feel like shit.
It shouldn’t. But it would.
“Because it would make things easier for me,” I say so ly.
He opens his mouth, but whatever he was going to say fell to its own
death alongside my defensive words.
Relen ng, he grabs his hoodie from behind his shoulders and pulls it
over his head, dragging up his white t-shirt. I see a glimpse of an elaborate
ta oo before his shirt falls back down.
He doesn’t say anything, just rests his elbows on his spread knees.
Balancing my bu on my heels, I blow out a breath and start kneading
his shoulder muscles. It feels like pressing my knuckles into a boulder.
“Jesus,” I mu er, pressing harder. He groans deeply, his head dropping
low between his shoulders as I dig at the knots pollu ng his muscles.
We don’t speak. Not for a li le while. My hands grow red, but I don’t
complain, nor do I stop. Slowly, he relaxes beneath my touch, his muscles
beginning to loosen beneath my persistent fingers.
“Tell me,” I whisper, a acking a par cularly brutal knot that pulls a groan
from deep in his chest.
He doesn’t respond right away, and I can feel the internal ba le from
outside his flesh and bones.
“I lost a young girl today,” he confesses, his voice hoarse and uneven.
I swallow, sadness spearing deep in my chest. He pauses, and I don’t
speak. Le ng him find the words at his own pace.
“She was very trauma zed and wouldn’t stop screaming. I wasn’t in the
building yet, I was s ll working my way in when I heard the gunshot go off.”
He pauses, taking a moment to collect himself. “I heard the conversa on
before I killed them. She was figh ng them tooth and nail. It didn’t ma er
how much they threatened to kill her, she fought anyways.”
His hands fist, and every muscle I worked hard to relax s ffens again as
Zade fights against his own demons. I pinch my eyes shut, bera ng myself
for what I’m about to do. But if I don’t… it would be unforgivable. I would
hate myself.
Sighing so ly, I sit on my bu and wrap myself around him like a koala
on a tree. Legs and arms around his torso and my head res ng against his
broad back.