Arc 2 by RoAnna Sylver

Author:RoAnna Sylver [Sylver, RoAnna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: RoAnna Sylver
Published: 2020-09-18T19:41:00+00:00

It was the morning before the night of the ritual, and Jude was about to crawl out of his skin.

He and Pixie hadn’t talked, about what had happened or what was about to happen, and the sad, desperate moment in the motel played over and over in Jude’s head, how blank and dead Pixie's usually more-alive-than-life eyes had been, the horror on his face when he realized what he’d done—Jude wanted to escape his own thoughts. But he couldn’t leave his brain behind, so instead he left the apartment, feet carrying him to a door just down the hall before he quite told them to.

The door opened just a few short moments after Jude’s first knock, taking him a bit by surprise. It usually took Jasper at least ten seconds to answer, maybe because he was in the back of his apartment with Felix, maybe just the fatigue Jude knew he was working through almost constantly.

“Can I talk to you?” he asked.

“I wish you would.” Jasper did indeed have dark circles under his eyes and leaned heavily against the door frame, but he smiled, and the knot inside Jude’s stomach loosened just a bit.

“Thanks. I don’t mean to disturb you or Felix, but…”

“You’re not, believe me. We can talk in here,” he said, leading the way inside and down the short hall past the living area. Jude’s eyes were immediately drawn toward a closed door that he hadn’t seen the other side of in some time. There, he knew, was Felix. Jude didn’t expect the wave of disappointment he felt at the sight of it, and realized that some part of him had been expecting, or at least hoping, to find it open.

“Felix is asleep—or his version of sleeping, rather,” Jasper said, clearly noticing the object of Jude’s attention and his reaction. “I’d like to keep it that way, for a few hours at least. He doesn’t really have a sleep schedule yet, and lord knows it’s hard enough for him to get there.”

“It’s hard on you too,” Jude said. “You deserve a few hours’ break.”

“The shop’s closed, and likely to remain closed for the immediate future. I’m only still paying rent on that place because moving everything out of there is out of the question. So I’m always on a break.”

“You know what I mean.”

For the first time in too long, Jude was able to see all of Jasper clearly and up close. He looked tired and run-down, even more so than Jude was accustomed to seeing him. In the early days of Felix’s return, Jasper had reminded him of a new father with a baby up at all hours, sleep-deprived and concerned but happy all the same—but right now he looked much more tired, and much less happy than he’d been at first.

Jude could also tell this time that Jasper indeed had lost more than a bit of weight, and now he could see the full extent. Still substantially broader than Jude, but not by as much as he remembered.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.