Page 15 of Creatures Like Us

Noah shakes his head with a small smile. “I don’t believe you.”

Yeah, I don’t believe me either.

“Is there anything I can do for you?” he asks. “Something that will make it easier?”

“Yeah. Get me a cigarette.”

I didn’t even know the words would come out before they did, but I guess my nicotine addiction is rearing its ugly head alongside all the rest.

“A cigarette?” Noah asks, blinking. “Okay.”

“Really?” I set the bucket down, veins buzzing with the thought of getting at least one of my cravings fulfilled.

Noah stands and disappears up the stairs. “I’ll be back.”

Yeah, he’ll be back. And I’ll be here, waiting for him to fulfill my every need, like a helpless animal, alone with my stupid nightmares and my worthless, beating heart.

Chapter 6

Noah

Cigarettesaren’tideal,butthey’re better than heroin, and unlike heroin, I happen to have a packet of cigarettes at home.

Auntie was a smoker. By the end, she struggled holding a cigarette on her own, so I used to help her smoke while we sat on the patio together, gazing out over the yard. Her life would have been cut short with or without cigarettes, so I thought nothing of it. With Asher, it’s different, but at least he might calm down if he gets to smoke. At least he might stop hating me so much.

Just wait, my Goldilocks. I’ll create a sanctuary for you, void of temptations. You won’t be free, but you’ll be safe.

Soon enough, I’ll make him understand that I know how he’s feeling. I might not know about drug withdrawal, but I know about the crawling feeling in his heart that led him to try drugs in the first place. We are the same, he and I. We both havedifficulties getting through life. We just have different ways of dealing with those difficulties. We are kindred spirits in that respect.

I’ll make him see, and when he does, he’ll also understand that I’m the only person in his life he can depend on. His ex-girlfriend doesn’t care about his well-being, and neither do his enabling friends or his bully of a big brother.

Out of sheer curiosity, I unlock his phone with the new PIN code I set for it. Yeah, that’s what I thought: His last message to his brother was fourteen months ago, and it’s left on read. After that, nothing.

As for his parents, it seems like his mom sends him money every week. My eyes widen at the amount. His parents must be pretty rich, then. I should have figured; Ethan used to come to school dressed in the most fashionable designer clothes. Even though we went to the same school, he lived in a world far removed from mine. Maybe my poverty was the reason he and his friends singled me out. One of the reasons, at least?…?You don’t call someone Dead Eye just for their threadbare clothes and DIY haircut.

After a bit of searching, I find Auntie’s cigarette stash in the closet. Her clothes are still here, as are all her belongings. I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of them when she passed, and I didn’t think I’d live long enough for it to matter.

I return to the basement. Asher glares at me suspiciously at my approach as usual, but when he sees what I hold in my hands, his eyes light up.

We sit in silence for a while as Asher enjoys his smoke. His eyes slide shut, his mouth tilting into a dimpled smile. I can’t help but stare at him, and when he opens his eyes again, he smirks, as if he knows something I don’t.

Well, Idoknow it; for all the power I hold over him with imprisonment and chains, at least he gets to goad me with the fact that I like him, and he doesn’t like me back.

“Noah,” he says, my name a floaty breath on his tongue.

“Yes?”

“Thank you.”

The acrid smoke floats my way as he exhales without a care. I don’t mind; he can do anything to me, as long as it makes him like me just a little.

“You’re welcome,” I mumble.

“Do you have any more?”

“Yeah, but?…?you shouldn’t smoke. It’s bad for you.”

He widens his eyes. “What, really?”