Page 65 of Hurt

“The truth is expensive, but it lasts.”

Elijah exhaled and tried not to stare at the way Noah scrunched up his button nose. “What if the truth hurts?”

Noah nosed into Elijah’s shoulder. “Truth may hurt, but it heals cleanly. Lies will leave a terrible scar.”

Touching the wrist sheath he wore under his shirt sleeve Elijah flicked out a blade. Twisting it between his fingers, he waited until his movements made Noah open his eyes.

With a cast of his wrist, he sent the blade flying through the night until it embedded itself onto a rock on the edge of the lot.

Noah blinked into the gloom. “I’m pretty sure that was super cool, but everything is spinny right now.”

Elijah chuckled. “There’s a fly under the knife.”

Noah jerked up and squinted into the night as if he could see it. “Holy shit.”

“I kill people, Noah.”

Suddenly looking a lot more sober, Noah turned to Elijah. The light from the bar made his caramel eyes look darker. “So do sharks. People still swim in the ocean.”

Elijah laughed. A real belly laugh. There was something about the way Noah said it, so innocent and wide-eyed. As if he really meant it. Like he completely understood what Elijah was saying, and it didn’t bother him at all.

Noah fell back against Elijah again. This time more of his body was pressed against him, their thighs touching.

“I left my cage, but I’m still powerless,” Noah said. “I thought I could help Kurt, but he’s still hurting. Willow is stuck here because she’s too afraid to lose Kurt. I don’t know how to help them.”

“Is that why you drank?”

“Seems to help people in movies.”

Elijah snorted and shook his head. He would save his lectures against under-aged drinking.

“I don’t know how to help them either.” He extended his hand out, palm up. “But I promise to help you when you figure it out.”

Noah stared at his hand for a long moment before taking it. They interlaced their fingers and let their hands rest on their legs.

“What if I can’t?”

Elijah squeezed his hand. “You will.”

“How do you know?”

“Did you see that fly?” He gestured to where his knife was sticking out of the rock.

“No.”

“I did. I see things better than you. So, trust me.”

Noah grinned and looked up at Elijah from where he was resting on his shoulder. “I really do.”

No one should smile at an assassin the way Noah did.

13

YOU WANT A BATTLE? HERE’S A WAR

Awindstorm blew through the desert that day. The skies turned black, and violent gales followed the canyons, slicing through them with a whipping force. Sand and dirt were kicked up into the air—tiny missiles that stung any surface they struck.

The ‘Closed’ sign on the front door of The Sunspot rattled in the wind. Only a small zip tie stood against the might of the storm, keeping the wooden sign in place with all the defiance a piece of plastic could muster.