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For a moment, the world and all its problems melted away, and it was just her and Roman. The small space separating their bodies felt electrically charged, as if a lightning storm were brewing between them.

Shay reached up, every vein in her body a live wire, and wrapped her fingers around the Shadowmaster’s tattooed wrist. As she slowly lowered his hand, they didn’t look away from each other, Roman’s attention flicking between her eyes and her lips. She watched as his throat shifted with a swallow…listened as his heart began to pound harder, the pulse in his strong wrist drumming beneath her fingers?—

“Hey, they sell video games here!” Paxton exclaimed. He was jumping in place, hand buried in his bag of chips. “Can I pick a new game? Can I? Can I, can I, can I,can I can I can I can I?—”

“On the way out,” Roman replied. Paxton whooped in delight.

Shay cleared her throat and slid off the counter?—

Big mistake. Her body brushed against Roman’s, the contact far too intimate for two slayers who were forbidden to even befriends.

“Sorry,” she stuttered, sidling around him. He mirrored her by accident, and soon they were performing an awkward two-step dance as they tried to get around each other.

“No, me— I mean,I’msorry,” Roman mumbled, backing up.

Shay gave a quiet laugh. “Not much of a smooth talker right now, are you?”

He smirked. “I’m a little fucked up still.” He gestured to his head with a rotating finger.

“You and me both.”

She was about to wander away, looking for something else—anything other than Roman this time—to distract her, when suddenly he said, “Truth or lie?”

Shay froze, her breath catching in her throat.

“I suck at using words.” Another rare smile flirted with his mouth.

No, you don’t,Shay thought, remembering the night they’d shared at Motel 58, when he’d driven all the way out there to find her after she’d left Yveswich. All the things he’d said to her by the outdoor pool.

‘Give me one night. Just one. A night where it’s just us—no one else, no regrets, no thoughts wasted on other people. I promised you five days, Shayla. And I don’t break promises.’

As if sensing where her mind had strayed, Roman broke her stare and busied himself with cleaning up. Shay hovered nearby, the fleeting press of his body against hers lingering like a phantom. A cruel reminder of what it had felt like to have him on top of her. Beneath her, too.

“So,” Shay began, toeing a line in the floor. “Am I calling a taxi?”

Roman paused, his brow furrowing. “A taxi?” he echoed. “Why would you call a taxi?”

“Well, you kind of made yourself clear that you don’t want me tagging along with you.” Damn, had that hurt. When she had woken up to find the two of them leaving.

Come to think of it, she owed the Hob a thank-you for kicking up such a fuss. Had Itzel left without a fight, Shay would either be dead right now or locked up somewhere with Donovan Slade.

A beat of awkward silence. And then Roman said, “Oh.”

He returned to cleaning up, leaving Shay hanging. He didn’t say anything more until he was finished, the counter spotless. No one would ever know they were here. There were security cameras throughout the store, but Kylar was currently masking them at Hell’s Gate.Leave nothing behind—that was one of the most important rules for a Darkslayer. And three people on the run.

Finally, Roman said, “If Pax hadn’t convinced me to stay, there’s a strong chance you’d be dead right now. Or worse.”

Shay pressed, “So…what does that mean?”

“It means I’m not making decisions for you anymore. If you want to leave, I’m in full support of that decision. And to be honest with you, Shayla, I’d prefer that.” His casual use of her full name made parts of her body tingle.

“But…?” she prompted, raising her brows.

“But…if you want to stay…” Those gold-flecked eyes scanned her face. “I can’t say I like it. But I’ll leave the decision up to you.”

She nibbled on her lip, ignoring how Roman’s eyes briefly dipped to her mouth.

“I think what happened at the Wanderer tells us that there’s strength in numbers,” she offered. “That could’ve been a lot worse if we weren’t together.”