Page 55 of Dark Little Game

“I hope that he turns out to be… someone who'll watch over me.”

It should be my arm around Rayne.

Letmy brother watch me take what he thought was his.

I want to put my hand on Rayne’s neck and feel him exhale when he can’t help himself from craving my touch, too.

I pull in a long breath of air, and it smells like rain is going to come. I can feel my heart pounding in my chest.

Maybe I don’t care if we’re moths to a flame.

When I get obsessed with something, or someone…

I go after it, even if I know it might destroy me.

11

Rayne

A hard rapping sound against the window wakes me later that night.

I shoot up in bed, gasping for breath as I move away from the dim light coming through the window.

I’ve heard a sound like that before, and when I last heard it, I ended up with a needle sticking out the side of my neck.

For a moment I think I must have dreamed it.

The wind is gently blowing outside, and nothing’s coming through the window.

But then I turn back toward my room and I hear it again.

Plink.Plink.

Something is hitting the window, hard.

“Fuck.Fuck.”

Adrenaline hits my blood fast.

Anyone could be out there on the balcony.

I toss away the covers and run for the small walk-in closet at the other side of the room, far from the window.

I’m still bleary from sleep as I move, tripping over a case of cold brew cans I stupidly left on the floor.

My back hits the bare wall on one edge of the closet and I look back to the window.

Something hits the window again and a tiny crack forms. Shadows dance along the walls as the wind blows the tree branches outside.

I watch it crack and realize that I truly may be about to die.

And all I can think about is my mom.

I’m her only child. She worked so goddamn hard to make a good life for me. I’m the first person in my family line to go to college at all, let alone get financial aid and a scholarship into Crimson College.

And she’s about to be the mother of a dead son.

The door handle of the room suddenly jiggles, and I have to act now or I know I’ll die.