Page 162 of Depths of Destruction

After a while, he asks, "Gone?"

"Yeah. How did you know?"

He moves his hand to his breast bone. "You scratch like this when you start panicking."

"I do?"

"Yeah. I used to do the same but to my chin."

Andre takes my hand. "I think we've done all we can for now. Let's go get some sleep."

Blaise hands Andre his car keys. "I'll pick it up later. Just leave the keys in the wheel well."

Fear grips me again. "You're leaving in the middle of the night?"

"Yeah."

I can't even look at him, so I turn away. Tears stream down my cheeks, and I leave the room and go to our bedroom.

It's not long before Andre is tugging me into his arms.

"I have a really bad feeling. Please, don't go," I beg him again.

"Shh. I'll be back before you know it." He doesn't let me talk any further. His lips and tongue unite with mine in a raw, potent clash of lust and love and all things that can only exist between two souls who feed each other's fire.

We spend hours flesh to flesh, wrapped around each other's bodies, in a cycle of pleasure and heat and all things carnal.

At some point, I doze off into a deep state of hell.

Emilia is shouting for Malin. Ezra is repeating 'Behind closed doors.' Andre's voice echoes the depths of destruction.

It seems to last forever. When I'm finally pulled out of my night terror, I'm sweating and wailing in Blaise's arms.

"Andre," I cry out.

"He's left."

"No," I whisper and sob into his chest.

"It's okay, Naomi. He knows what he's doing," Blaise tries to reassure me.

But nothing he says does. The feeling in the pit of my stomach twists and grows with an expanding fear. For days, I can hardly get out of bed. Exhausted, I drift in and out of sleep, always consumed by flashbacks or premonitions.

Blaise tells me they aren't real. That they are effects of the trauma I've experienced and my anxiety over Andre being gone.

After the first week passes, I wake up for the first time since Andre left without screaming. I shower and go downstairs.

"You're up." Blaise beams.

"I didn't have a nightmare last night."

"That's great. Today should be a good day."

"Have you heard from Andre?"

"No, but Javier called."

My pulse increases. "Your other brother?"