Page 105 of Creatures Like Us

I already knew Asher and his brother looked similar, but I can’t believe their striking resemblance. Their similarities in looks only enhance their difference in aura. While Asher is impulsive, quick to sarcasm, but at the same time withdrawn, his brother is confident and striking, owning every inch of the room.

“No.” I shake my head, trying to hide behind the curtain of my hair.

“Itisyou!” Ethan hisses, eyes going wide. “What the fuck are you doing here, Dead Eye?”

Shit. I didn’t count on him being here, and even less on him recognizing me.

Just then, someone comes down the stairs, and my heart jumps in my chest at the sight of Asher. He looks like he’s been crying. I want to go to him, comfort him, but we’re too far apart, and his brother and his friends are forming a barrier between us.

“Ethan?” Asher’s beautiful face twists into a confused frown. “What’s happening?”

“Do you know this guy?” Ethan throws a gesture my way.

“I?…?uh?…”

“Yeah, he does!” Lilith speaks up. Someone turns the music down, and the remainder of the guests turn their attention to us. “I saw them together?…?You did something to him!” She points at me, and I feel the stares of the crowd pressing in on me, suffocating me. “Look at his wrist!” She points to Asher. “He hurt him.”

“Ash?” Ethan turns to his brother. “Is this true?”

Asher shakes his head, face pale, but he says nothing. We both know the truth. Lilith is right; Ididhurt him. If only they’d let me apologize?…

I take a step toward Asher, sidelining his brother, but a rough shoulder pushes me away, and hands from an unknown assailant grab me from behind.

“Stay the fuck away from him,” Ethan growls.

Asher shakes his head, fists clenched by his sides. “Why did you come here, Noah?”

“Let me go.” I struggle against the hold of Ethan’s friends, but my limbs are heavy, as if I’m standing in quicksand. “Let me go to him.”Let me tell him I’m sorry. Let me repent. Even if he won’t forgive me, let me at least see his face one more time before the end.“Ash. Asher!” I struggle once more and get free, stumbling toward Asher and his brother.

Ethan stares at me with fear-laced fury. He puts his back to Asher and digs something out of his pocket.

“Get away from my brother, you freak!” His eyes flash as he lunges toward me, and the next moment, something sharp and hot punches me in the gut.

“No!” Someone screams, but I don’t know who.

The following seconds feel distant, slowed, and all I feel is that burning—not pain, just?…?a warm wetness, soaking the front of my shirt.

Where before he looked furious and hateful, Ethan now backs away from me, and what he’s holding in his hand drops to the floor.

A knife. Oh, so that’s what it was?…?Wow, I feel dizzy.

Someone rushes to my side and helps me lie down, and I know who it is by scent alone.

A scream. “Someone call 911!”

A pressure on my abdomen and a pain hot like fire, knocking the breath from my lungs.

My nostrils flare, and Asher’s hands are on my face. Someone else must be stifling the flow of blood, then. I try to see who, but my vision is too blurry, everything too far away.

“Don’t you dare,” Asher sobs. “Don’t you dare die.”

His tears land on my cheek, and I can’t help but smile. At least he cares enough about me to cry in the face of my potential death. That means something. It means I didn’t fuck up as much as I thought. It means there was still hope between us when I came here. That hope might no longer exist, but it’s for a reason different from my own mistakes.

I didn’t know it would feel like this. I thought I’d be ready when it happened. I shouldn’t resist the wave in the distance that is coming to wash me away, but?…?part of me doesn’t want to leave.

Leaving means leaving Asher.

Leaving means his face will fade from my sight.