Page 14 of Fatally Yours

“Oh, my god…” I wept, tucking my head against August’s chest. A chill ran down my spine as I realized I was just as cold as he was.

“It’s okay.” He wrapped his arms around me while muttering gentle comforts into my hair.

“I’m here with you. Remember, it’s me and you at the edge of this abyss.

” He cradled my face in his hands again as his lips met my forehead.

They were just as icy as I remembered them being the night he snuffed me out.

“Not like this,” I cried. “Never like this…” I continued to weep as I gripped his shirt, fearing my nails would poke holes in the delicate fabric.

The memories of the weeks after the ritual clouded my head, and I looked up at him, hoping to ask what had been burning in my mind since our reunification.

“Why? Why did it take you so long to come back?” I asked. His face fell as if I was killing him. Not hurting him, killing him.

“Natasha…”

“Tell me!” I pounded my fist against him. He sighed and grabbed my hand, running his thumb over my knuckles. My wintery, transparent knuckles.

“Suffering. Punishment. Torture. Hell isn’t kind—”

“Hell? You?” My sobs interrupted his words. “You weren’t that bad…”

“Bad enough, I guess,” he said sheepishly.

He wasn’t that bad… was he? Su re, he got into his fair share of fights and ended up in jail a handful of times, but the good outweighed the bad, didn’t it?

Unless this universe was really that cruel.

But after everything I had been through since he returned, that wouldn’t shock me.

My words died and were covered with another round of sobs.

“I’m here now, okay?” he said, wiping away a tear with his thumb.

“Everything will be okay. We’re together forever now.

” I nodded, still fighting back my sorrows.

Thinking about him, my best friend, the love of my life, the man I wanted to live and die with in hell was almost as torturous as being buried by the people I called friends.

“Was I in hell?” I croaked. “It felt like I was in hell.” He shook his head, but his expression reeked of guilt for just a flash.

“I suspended your existence so I could bring you back,” he said. “A primary resurrection can do that.” There were so many things packed into those two sentences. The implications were vast and numerous, and after all this, I didn’t want to deal with it.

“I-I don’t want to think about that.”

“It’s fine, baby,” he said, brushing my hair behind my ear. “You don’t have to. I’ll make sure you’ll be okay.” I would have to be okay. If I weren’t, Devin and everyone else might as well just put me back in the ground to suffer the biting wrath of nature.

“What are we going to do now?” I questioned.

“I couldn’t come back or resurrect you without a price, baby.”

“W-what do you mean?” My voice was chipping as I thought about what happened last time he needed to pay a price, or a debt as he called it, when he filled my body with stab wounds.

“I was serious when I said I’d kill Devin.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“I would,” he said. “I will.”

“He’s a jerk, but…”

“But what?” His mismatched eyes burned into mine like he would end me again if I disobeyed. A chill ran down my spine, but I hesitated to call it fear. The idea that I was defending Devin after all he did must’ve put a damper on his mood.

“I don’t think he deserves to die.”

“Do you know he was fucking other girls behind your back?” His words were biting.

I wasn’t sure I could blush anymore, but if I could, my face would be heating.

My lip was sucked between my teeth as I thought about how much more the universe could pile on in the past day or two.

August came back from the dead and stabbed me, my friends buried my body, and I found out Devin was cheating on me.

Not that I was ever his to begin with. Wes was right about that.

“I-I learned that when they found me…” I felt myself holding back more tears as I looked up at him. “How did you know?”

“Information comes easy when used to torment you,” he said mournfully. “Wouldn’t that be a good song too?” His half-hearted smile made my chest ache. I shook my head.

“No, not about that.” The guilt was creeping up on me as quickly as my sorrow.

Knowing he knew I was dating someone else, and that someone else was the person he hated, and on top of that, I wasn’t being treated right.

Not to mention the sleepless nights I suffered, the drinking, and the days spent in bed wishing I could join him that I went through while he was gone. It must’ve hurt him, tortured him.

“I’m sorry…” I said, feeling my throat twinge.

“Don’t apologize. You didn’t think I would come back.

” He pulled me close again and stroked my hair.

“But there’s a price for keeping you with me.

I wouldn’t have done something so terrible if I didn’t think I could bring you back, I swear.

” Keeping my face against him, I did my best to try to stop my crying, but it was relentless.

“I refuse to rest in peace, baby. All I wanted was to have you with me,” he said, pressing his lips to the top of my head and muttering into my dirty hair again.

“And I want to kill that fucker who hurt you. Will you let me?” My jaw clenched, and I pulled away, staring straight into his wicked, unmatched eyes.

“ You hurt me, August.”

“I know, and I’ll spend the rest of eternity making up for it. ”

I swallowed the rest of my tears, and my sorrows were replaced with something much more unfamiliar: anger. Sure, he pushed my buttons, but I couldn’t think of a time when I felt that much rage toward him—perhaps never. But I would have to forgive him. He was all I had.

“Now tell me,” he said, pulling my gaze to his. “Will you let me?” My lip trembled as I soared through my emotions faster than I could comprehend.

“I… don’t know…” My voice faltered. This was what I wanted, so why did I feel so much dread about it? Even though I wasn’t alive, I still felt that nauseating anxiety I experienced in life. He smiled and planted another kiss on my wintery forehead.

“That’s better than no.”