Page 19 of Isolation

"Fuck you. Get away from me and find Reid.”

“Enough, Raven!"

"I told you I need to talk to him."

"Do not ask for him one more time—”

“FIND! REID!”

My body reacts before my mind does. One of my hands moves to the nape of her neck and the other around her waist.

Pulling her to me, I swoop down to her lips.

Lips smashing together.

Collision course.

Heart pounding.

Adrenaline.

Rush. Pure rush.

I barely feel Raven’s nails clawing my cheeks and neck. Drugs block your pain receptors so the message can’t be carried to the nerve cells in your brain.

Raven is my drug of choice. Pain doesn’t affect you when you are this high from the drug you consumed.

Raven is digging her nails in harder, trying to move her face. But the hand I have around her neck is strong enough to hold her still.

I keep kissing her, not giving her an ounce of space.We are both out of breath when I break the kiss.

I have only pulled away for a second when Raven blurts out, “Milo, stop! Reid and I are together—”

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Raven

Milo comes down on my mouth at full speed. He barely breaks the kiss when a plethora of verbal diarrhea takes over. “Milo, stop! Reid and I are together—”

I stop short, having realized what I just said. Milo freezes as well. He is still holding me tight while I struggle to get away from him.

He narrows his eyes at me. “What?” he asks a little too quietly. “What did you just say?”

It was the only information I could have shared to shock him enough to stop. But it was too much.

I stare at him and brace myself for the blow that’s about to come.

“Raven!” Milo growls as he shakes me violently.

“I want to be with Reid,” I blurt it out again.

There it is. The detail I planned to tell Milo the day we reunited after years apart before I lost my nerve.

Clearly, my concussed brain is suspended of all logic. I let the words slip out.

Milo’s eyes turn from shock to hurt to… anger. Pure. Fire. Anger. He grabs both of my arms to shake me, but he doesn’t have to as a familiar panic is shaking my body on its own.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Milo yells. I open my mouth, but he cuts me off. “Tell me you are lying. Assure me that you lied to provoke me.”