Page 107 of Chasing After You

“What did he say?”

“Well… that—you know his brothers, the ones I was staying with?”

“I don’t have that poor of a memory, angel,” he laughed.I really loved it when he laughed.

“They’re…” I lowered my voice. “Psychopaths.”

“That’s interesting,” he hummed, the corner of his lip twitching up.

“He said that you might be like them…” I cautioned, pulling my bottom lip between my teeth.

Dorian’s eyebrows rose as he snorted and turned to flash an amused grin my way. “And what about you? Do you think I’m a big, scary psychopath?”

“I don’t think so? But sometimes you do some psychopath-type shit, you know?”

“Oh?” he asked, smirking.

“I mean you stalked me, and you drugged me, and… well, I think that’s it, but both of those things are illegal and not okay in the slightest!”

“I think that just makes me a criminal, not a psychopath, angel,” he chuckled.

I sighed in frustration.Why was he not taking this seriously?

He turned to look at me, the amusement fading from his eyes. “Look. I’m not making fun of you, I promise. But there’s no way I’m a psychopath, Josh. I feel things way too deeply for that to be the case. And sometimes I may do some fucked up shit, and I’ve been trying to work on that, but I do that shitbecauseof how intensely I feel things.”

I breathed out through my nose, eyes trained on the thin curve of moonlight overhead. “Oh… I guess that’s good, right?”

Dorian didn’t answer right away.

“Maybe,” he said.

I looked over at him. The faint glow of the dashboard lit the lines of his face, highlighting his beauty.

“I mean… It’s better than not feeling anything, isn’t it?”

He looked at me, gaze steady. “Sometimes I used to wish I didn’t have to feel things. But I’m glad… I’m glad that I do. I couldn’t imagine my life withoutfeelingfor you. Loving you, yearning for you, hurting for you…”

That quieted something in me.

I turned my hand under his and laced our fingers together. His palm was warm, his grip firm.

His voice was soft. “Would you like it if I saw one? A psychiatrist?”

My eyes widened in surprise. “You would see one?Yes, yeah, I’d like it. But only if you want to go! I don’t want to make you do something that you hate. But yeah… that way you can get help if you need it.”

“Okay,” he said.

“Okay?”

“When we get back home, I’ll make an appointment.”

“Really?” I asked, my voice breathy and full of wonder.

“Yeah,” he answered, shooting me a soft smile.

A few minutes later, the lights of the city shimmered in the distance like a mirage. We’d be at the hotel soon. Clean clothes, hot showers, cold air, soft beds. Miles and miles between us and the ruin we’d left behind.

“I love you,” I said.