After Aves gets off work, I wait across the hall. Considering most of my time is spent hanging around and waiting, I shouldn’t feel a need to keep checking the stone, but I’m pulling up Kai in ten-minute intervals. Then, around eleven, the door across the hall shuts. I summon Kai’s image, breathing out a sigh when I see Nyx taking off her coat.
Fucking. Finally.
I set the stone on the kitchen counter, not interested in the specifics, and drag off the polo I’ve worn all day on my way to the bedroom. Once she’s out of the picture, Kai will want to go to the nearest club to end his dry spell. I’m ready to end mine as well. He hasn’t been getting any from Nyx, and I haven’t gotten any since her.
Before I shower, I text Cass to let him know Project Nix Nyx is in the final stage.
When I called earlier, my brother wasted no time in barking out a, “Told you so,” to Hannah, pretty proud of himself for predicting the necessary outcome from day one.
I swear I heard her roll her eyes through the phone.
I toss my phone on the bed along with the amulet and snag clothes.
Twenty minutes later, I check the mirror one last time, dressed and ready to cheer up my charge. As I step out of the bathroom, music plays from across the hall, so I head straight for the kitchen to check the palm stone. Sure enough, Kai’s alone and sprawled out in the living room, playing a video game.
My existence is mine again.
As I tuck the stone in my pocket, I smile and grab my keys off the counter. But my door isn’t even shut yet when I come to an abrupt stop. Nyx is on the floor outside of Kai’s apartment, her back against the wall and her knees to her chest with her hands covering her face.
Fuck.
Her head lifts when the door clicks behind me. She notices me and shakes her head. “Sorry,” she says, pushing to her feet.
Once she’s standing in front of me, I see the redness in her cheeks, her eyes.
“Were you crying?” I ask. I sound way more confused than I should because why would she be crying if she’s the one who did the dumping?
She looks back at the door and whispers, “Yes,” like she doesn’t want Kai to know she’s still here.
“He won’t hear you with his game on. And even if it wasn’t loud as shit, he zones out when he’s playing.”
Her shoulders rise with a slow breath. “Yes,” she says louder. “I was crying. Kai broke up with me.”
Now, my face matches my voice. “What? He dumped you?”
She nods, tears welling again. “Yep. I mean, I came over here to break up with him, but still.”
“So, you’re crying because he broke up with you first?”
The pink in her cheeks turns to a full blush, and she chooses the ugly carpet in the hallway instead of eye contact. “Partly.” She blows out a breath before she looks up again. “I also left my coat inside and can’t bring myself to knock and ask for it.”
That part might be my fault with the whole tell him goodbye and never contact him again phrasing. I’m about to offer to get it for her, but she’s not finished.
“And at this point, I can’t knock, or he’ll know I’ve been out here for fifteen minutes. Not to mention, I’ve already had a really shitty day. My car wouldn’t start earlier, and I’m pretty sure I screwed things up for my sister…” A sad laugh escapes her, her head shaking again. “You’re probably the last person I should be dumping all this on, considering your relationship with Kai. Sorry. I’ll just buy a new coat tomorrow and wait for my Uber outside.”
Nyx forces a smile, and with a small wave, she starts down the hall toward the elevator. For some fucking reason, I’m still standing here when she steps inside and turns around. Then we watch each other until the doors close.
I stare at Kai and Avery’s apartment door, clenching my jaw while I reach for the knob. But before I touch it, I groan and rush down the hall to the stairwell.
Even though Avery has her finger ready on the pepper spray, I always make sure I’m there when she walks to or from the building at night. Nyx doesn’t even have a coat, and I doubt her phone would scare away a fucking raccoon.
“Hey,” I say, catching up with her just outside the entryway.
She glances over her shoulder, her eyebrows scrunching together when she sees me. “Hey.”
I scan the front of the building, jogging the last stretch of sidewalk between us. “I can wait with you.”
The wind whips around us, and Nyx’s teeth are already chattering.
“Here,” I say, peeling off my hoodie. Christ, I really am turning into Rosdan.
“No.” She pushes it back at me. “Now, you’ll be cold.”
“I will. But I’m at least wearing a T-shirt.” My head tips to the low neckline of her tank top.
She takes the sweatshirt, and fuck, it really is cold outside. Maybe I should have kept the amulet on and used it as a heater. By the time her head pops through the neck, I’m already over it.
“You order a car yet?”
She brings out her phone. “You stopped me, remember? Really, I’ll be fine. Go inside. If anyone comes near me, I’ll stab them with my apartment key.”
She pulls a single key out of her pocket to show me, and I chuckle.
“That will do enough damage to piss them off.” I dig my own keys out of my pocket and nod toward the parking lot. “Let’s go.”
She hesitates to follow me but then falls into step beside me. “Thank you.”
I shrug. “I just want to make sure I get my sweatshirt back.”
The drive only takes a few minutes. I let her give me directions, acting like I haven’t followed her ex-boyfriend there multiple times. When I park in the lot behind her building, Nyx is looking at her hands while she plays with her apartment key. I rest my head on the seat, turned toward her. The console lights up her face, green instead of the blue cast from the screen the first night she showed up at the apartment. I study her one last time. The profile of her pouty mouth and the curve of her nose.
Her eyes flick up to mine, and the air feels thick from the heat blowing out of the vents. Even without her remembering how good we felt together, the tension’s there.
I’m about to say fuck it and slam my lips into hers, but she beats me to it.
She whimpers the second her mouth is on mine, her hands skimming to the back of my head to pull me closer. I lean in over the console, bringing a hand to the side of her neck. But when my tongue dips in to stroke hers, she pulls back.
“Come inside,” she says.
I force myself to stop looking at her mouth, and what the hell am I doing? I just erased her memories of us screwing, and now, I’m seconds away from recreating them with her in the passenger seat of my car.
“No,” I say. “I can’t.” But I barely believe myself, so I add, “This was just supposed to be a ride. I don’t want you to think it would ever be anything else.”
Nyx slumps back in her seat like I slapped her. Then, after a beat, she recovers and sets her jaw. “Of course you don’t. I broke up with your best friend less than an hour ago.” She smiles and shakes her head, turning for the handle. “Plus, I’m not at all your type, right?”