Page 62 of Creatures Like Us

“Like what?”

“Like you’re gone. Like I’m alone. Can you promise me I won’t?”

“I?…”

The hand around my throat tightens. “Promise me, Noah.”

My gaze falls along with my hand on his cheek, and for the first time, that grip feels suffocating. “I can’t.”

I always say the wrong things, but I have to tell him the truth. This new state of being—where I don’t feel like I’m unwelcome in my own life—is so unfamiliar, so pristine, and it still fills me with disbelief. I cannot promise Asher or myself a future of always feeling that way, just like he can’t promise me he’ll never use again.

I want to tell him all this, but I can’t find the right words or the right way to say them, and as the seconds pass, the unspoken words die in my throat.

“I’m sorry,” I mumble, and even that seems the wrong thing to say.

Asher’s expression darkens. His hand falls from my throat and dips into the water. “Come on, then—let’s wash up. I’m ready to fuck you now.”

Chapter 17

Asher

Noahhasnoideawhat’s coming. He may not mind pain as much as I do, but he trusts me way too much, and what he said in the bath pissed me off.

How dare he be so flippant about my question? It’s not that much to ask.Just don’t fucking kill yourself, Noah, how hard can it be?

He didn’t even contemplate for very long before he said,I can’t. At least think about it. At leastlookat me and consider the way we are together. We’re happy, goddamn it, and Noah should be happy I’m staying with him.I’mhappy about it; I don’t want to go back out there. Out there, I have no control. In here, I have at least some kind of power—the power over Noah, even if he holds power over me too. At least it’s no longer a power wielded by chains and knives.

We scrub ourselves clean and help each other wash our hair. Noah forgot to bring his conditioner, and he grumbles a bit about that.

“Not so fun to use body wash, is it?” I tease.

“It’ll get tangled to hell.”

Besides the lack of conditioner, we’re forced to use a single towel to dry ourselves, Noah having forgotten to fetch one from upstairs.

“You should bring another towel,” I say. “For next time.” That wording might not seem like much, but to me, it means a lot.Next time, as in,I will stay with you long enough for there to be a next time.Another towel, as in,I want to bathe with you again.

Noah lifts a hand and cups my cheek, smiling softly. Yeah, he gets it.

“Okay, Goldilocks.”

My cheeks flush before I have time to look away. Fuck, he’s getting sexier by the minute. The stuff he did to me in the middle of the night?…?Well, let’s just say, the thought of it alone is enough to make me pop a boner. The fact that he’s a guy doesn’t even really faze me. I don’t even think about it. It’s not like I thought a lot about the fact that Lilith was a girl. She was just?…?Lilith. And Noah is just Noah, and I want him, in whatever way I can have him.

“Go on,” I say, jerking my head toward the bedroom. Our room. I don’t want to relocate to Noah’s bedroom upstairs. I’ve been through so much down here, and I’m eager to replace the bad memories with good ones.

Noah hesitates for a moment.

“What’s wrong? Don’t you want to?” My voice comes out darker than I intended, and a twisted idea forms in my mind. “Hey, I should’ve had that knife of yours,” I tease, lining up athis back and herding him toward the bedroom like he used to do with me when he held me prisoner.

He glances over his shoulder, hesitating.

“Go on,” I say, in that same teasing tone. “Or are you scared?”

He shakes his head, the wet strands of his hair dripping water to the floor. All at once, he discards the towel, walks naked into the bedroom, and lies on the bed on all fours.

I follow him, heart pounding hard and deep in my chest as I watch him present himself like that. I stop by the bedside, observing him—the stiff line of his back, his hair falling in front of his face so I can’t read his expression.

“That’s the position you want to be in?”