My outside finally matched my insides.
Knock. Knock.
A noise left me, and one by one, all two hundred and six bones in my body stiffened as I swept my gaze toward my front door. Nobody ever visited me.
Knock. Knock.
“Sweetheart? It’s me. Can I come in?”
Relief passed through me, and for a single moment, I let his voice drape across my body and tighten around me like a vise. His tone slipped through my chest, melting away some of the tension that kept me from breathing, and I wanted to throw myself at him… but no.
“Silas?”
No.
I curled my fingers into my palms and squeezed until I felt the familiar bite of my fingernails pierce the skin. My lips curled, and the breath I couldn’t seem to catch burst out of me in one single blast as I stomped my way across my apartment.
I threw open the door.
“Hey there, Kitten. I—the fuck?”
Elijah hardened. A second of silence stood between us, and all at once, he came to life. Strong, able hands shot outward, and he gripped my face before I could run from him. An ugly noise tore through his chest, as he frantically dragged his fingers down my cheeks.
“Why are you crying?”
What?
My hand shook as I lifted it, my sleeve slipping down my forearm as I ran the pads of my fingers across my face. My stomach cinched when I felt the wetness there.
“Silas.” He spoke through his teeth, and the hands on my face got so heavy, I thought my head might come off. “Silas, baby, I need you to tell me who hurt you.”
“Wh.. what?”
He clutched my forearms then, his grip threatening my circulation as he lifted them to his eyeline. I didn’t recognize the eyes that swept across my scars, and I barely felt his thumb slipping through the blood there.
His forehead fell against mine, his heavy breath barreling across my cheeks. “Tell me who did this, sweetheart, and I’ll take care of it.”
Was he kidding?
I wrenched out of his grasp. A noise tore through him, and he reached for me with a desperation I used to recognize. I swatted at his hands, and my head shook with a frantic instability that left me dizzy.
“Silas, who—”
“You!” The truth was a bomb, and each letter blew throughout this cold hallway, bouncing off his chest so hard he stumbled. “You did this, Elijah.You.”
Something happened to his face. I hadn't seen the expression before, and I wasn’t sure what it meant but it made my chest hurt all over again.
“Sweetheart, I would never—”
My hand dove into the pocket of his jacket. My fingertips grazed the piece of paper that was still there, and I ignored the way my chest collapsed when I yanked it free.
I held it between us. “You did this.”
Elijah flinched. His eyes pulled together as he studied what was pinched between my fingers, and he ran his hand across his jaw. His head shook. “Silas—”
No.
I shoved the paper in his mouth.