“Don’t tempt me,” he says. “Because I’m workingreally hardto be nice to you. Ilikeyou. But Idowant to bite you. And scratch you. And run a knife along your pale skin. And a lot of other things, but…” he trails off with an apologetic grin, and his grip loosens. The electricity shooting up my spine fades, and I’m able to relax my shoulders.
God, I hope he doesn’t know the mixed signals he gives me. Or that Isaac had given me last night. Ilikeunnecessary roughness. Ilikea little pain. Or more than a little. I might have even liked Cyril’s version of it had I not been so freaked out.
But that’s a problem because I can’t likeanythingabout the Lost Boys.
“So I had to stay.” Ezra pulls his hand free of my hair and taps my nose with one finger, making me sneer. “Because I didn’t want you to accidentally stab yourself in your sleep. Think how sad we’d all be. Wejustgot you, and I don’t want you to break before I can play with you.”
The words send a shiver through my nerves that has very little to do with fear.
“Why not just take the knife and set it somewhere?” I ask, wondering if he’s going to stay right here all morning.
Ezra rewards me with a grin. “Because it’syourknife,” he reminds me. “Why would I take it? Clearly you wanted to sleep with it, and I don’t want to come between you and your sense of comfort.”
That’s…actually touching, coming fromhim.
“Not right now, anyway. Though I’d love it if youbeggedme to take control and push you, just a little bit.”
And there go all thewarmfuzzy feelings. They drain from inside me, and I let out a long-suffering sigh. “Wow. You’re just so…thoughtful.”
“Nah, I’m pretty fucked up,” he disagrees. “I wouldn’t know thoughtful if it smacked me in the face.”
He’s more and more irritating by the second.
“So I was going through your cabinets. The kitchen was boring, but I decided to look through your bathroom cabinets as well.”
Wow. I can’t respond because what the hell do I say to that?
“Anyway, saw the Fluoxetine in the cabinet.”
I just stare at him. It’s none of his businesswhatI take. Whether for my depression or anything else. “Fuck you,” I say calmly.
“Yeah, we’ve had this conversation, remember?” He holds his hand out, gesturing toward the knife. “Give me the butter knife, princess. The only thing you’re going to hurt is your own pride.”
“It’s not a butter knife,” I tell him, standing up even though there’s not exactly room for me to do so. Still I bring the blade up between us, and when he inhales deeply, I have no doubt that there’s nothingfearfulabout his reaction.
“It’s really hard to think with you coming onto me like this,” Ezra sighs, leaningforwardso that the side of the blade touches his throat. “And we were having a conversation. Can I have that? At least until later when youknowhow much you want me inside you instead of now when you’re still wavering on it.”
“I don’t want youanywhere,” I snap. “I’m going tostab you.”
“Pleasedon’t. It’ll be a disappointment and a slow death of you sawing at my throat. You need to sharpen your knives better before you go around threatening people.” This time, Ezra doesn’t give me a choice. He grabs the knife and yanks it from my fingers fast enough that I don’t have the sense to tighten my hand or pull the knife away.
It goes into his back pocket, and he reaches out to pet my head condescendingly. “You can have it back when you learn how to take care of it,” he says like I’m a child, and he’s taken away my toy.
“Fuck–”
“Say it one more time, and you’re going to be on your back in that bed before you can take a breath,” Ezra says,beamingat me with all of the goodwill and kindness of asaint.
I hate it.
“As I was trying to say.” He clears his throat self-importantly. “I know that Arlo gets pretty nauseous if he takeshisantidepressants on an empty stomach.”
“Arlo takes antidepressants?” The thought catches in my head, and it shouldn’t interest me, but it does. Because it’s hard to talk to anyone about my mental health, and for a moment, a spark of camaraderie pushes him to the bottom of my hit list.
Until I remember that it wasArlothat did the tattoo.
So, in conclusion,fuck Arlo. And not in a sexy way.
“Yeah. The same dosage as you, actually. However I’m not here to compare meds. Especially since they aren’tmymeds.” It’s surprisingly nice of him since I doubt he has many boundaries in his head or in his life. “I thought I’d see where you want to go for breakfast. I’ll pay for it.”