Fatal by TA Brock

Author:TA Brock
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Omnific Publishing
Published: 2014-03-09T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Looming, in a Good Way

THE REST OF MARCH PASSED by in a blur.

Cori spent a lot of her time at the cemetery or the river with Grayson. They picked up trash sometimes. Other times they just sat and talked. Often they didn’t talk at all—either because they didn’t need to or because their mouths were busy doing other things.

Cori liked going there now. It felt like she belonged there, but not in a creepy, foreshadowing-of-death kind of way. She especially liked it because it meant getting to know Grayson a little bit better. Thanks to their graveyard rendezvous, she knew he adored indie music; he found horror movies to be hilarious and not in the least bit frightening; he loved the rain—or water, period; his favorite food was beef—he failed to specify further, just beef. She’d learned he was adopted by a couple but he didn’t refer to them as mom and dad.

“They’re more like my siblings. They were too young to be parents.”

Too bad. She’d much rather think of Raina as his mother figure than accept that she was his non-blood related sister.

“So why’d they adopt?”

He shrugged, reaching to wipe a dew drop from a nearby leaf. “I was in a bad place. I’d just lost my family. I was…sick. Experiencing symptoms I didn’t know how to deal with.”

“What happened to your family?”

“I don’t know. I can’t remember.”

“Anything?”

He shook his head.

“But you could find out. Don’t you wonder?”

“I guess. Sometimes.”

“We could look online. Where are they from?”

He shook his head. “No, Cori. I’d rather not know.”

“But—”

“No. I have a new family now, and I can’t be dragging anybody else into this…life.”

She understood what he was saying.

He’d laid his jacket on the ground for her to sit on so she wouldn’t get wet. She fingered the zipper just for something to do.

“It’s bad enough I brought you into it.”

She tried not to let his words hurt her. She knew deep down that their time was limited, even if she chose to ignore it most of the time. He’d never been clear about what disease he suffered—but she was certain they didn’t have forever.

And she knew about his regrets. She didn’t want to be his biggest regret. She wanted to be his greatest decision. Or even his good choice.

“Don’t do that,” she whispered. “Don’t regret me.”

His gaze caught hers, and she could see it all. The war between whatever he thought was right and wrong. The pain of whatever he kept from her, of time missing from the back of his life. But most of all, remorse. Not a single ounce of hope or joy.

It wasn’t right. She might end up being his biggest regret, but she’d at least be the regret that made him happy.

She dropped the zipper and scooted closer to the edge of the rock ledge where he’d perched. Like a magnet to metal, he inched closer to her as well until they were face to face, chest to chest. Her fingers gently traced the shadows above his cheeks.

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