Authors: Abbi Glines
“
Miranda
,” I hissed
,
trying to get her to stop going fan
-
girl over some strange random guy. She then lifted her finger and started pointing at him. Fantastic. She’d gone insane.
“Do you know who he is?” she asked me
, and
then squealed
,
still gawking at him.
Did I know who he was? What did she mean? Was I missing
something
? I
turned and
looked at him
again
. He was still just as ridiculously sexy
,
but he was just a guy. The amused smirk on his face
alerted me that maybe he knew why she was acting like she’d lost her mind.
“Who are you?” I asked studying him closely.
The blue in his eyes began to … glow?
“Dank Walker,” he replied
,
never taking his gaze from mine. It was hard to look away from his eyes. Something in them was magnetic. Almost like my body was drawn to him. I didn’t like it.
It
scared me. It was wrong. It wasn’t normal.
“Pagan, do you not know who he is? Oh
. M
y
. G
od! You have got to be kidding me. I’ve got to get you out more. I can’t believe it is you
are really
standing here. Holding her
Pagan’s
box
. Do you go here? I didn’t know you went to college? I am such a big fan.
Yet
You
Stay
is my ringtone. Love it!”
Ringtone? Wait…
“You’re the lead singer in that band,” I paused
,
because I
couldn’t remember
their name. I knew Miranda loved them. I just tuned her out most of the time when she started going on and on about something.
“Cold Soul, Pagan! He is the lead singer of Cold
-
freaking
-
Soul. How could you not know this?” Miranda informed me as she stepped over her brushes and hair dryer to get closer to Dank Walker.
“I am your biggest fan.” She informed him but I had a feeling he’d figured that much out already.
“It’s nice to meet you,” he replied politely
,
but only glanced at her before
he turned
his attention back to me. The amused grin on his face made me feel like he knew something I didn’t.
That
annoyed me.
“I can take the box. Thanks for your offer to help but I
’ve
got it,” I said reaching out to
take
the box he was holding. He arched one eyebrow and shifted the box out of my reach.
“I’m sure you can handle
it
all by yourself, Pagan. But I want to carry it to your room. Please.” I
couldn’t
be rude. He had said please.
“She wants to carry it herself
,
Dank. Give her the damn box and let’s go. We got stuff to do.” The
Emo
girl who was
now
sitting on his mot
orcycle
called out.
Something that I was pretty sure was anger flashed in his eyes
. H
e didn’t even glance bac
k in her direction. “Ignore her
,
”
h
e told me as he nodded his head toward the doors of the dorm. “Lead the way.”
I didn’t want the wild
,
slightly
-
scary girl who lived in my dorm to hate me
,
but Miranda
was
nudging my arm like an idiot
.
She w
ant
ed
me to let Dank Walker carry my box of shoes and
he was
obvious
ly
determin
ed
to
help me
.
“Okay fine, I’ll just go get another box. Miranda, you show him where the room is.” Miranda
beamed at me and nodded
her appreciation
.
The amused look
vanished
and Dank Walker seemed annoyed. Fine. Good. He shouldn’t be hitting on another girl while he has one on the back of his bike. I wasn’t stupid. I knew guys in rock bands were players. That was not my thing.
Miranda began bubbling over with words and more words as she started walking toward the dorm trying very hard to hold
Dank’s
attention. She could handle him. I had no doubt. Heading back to the Land Rover, I tried to block out their voices and focus on the boxes I needed to unload.
CHAPTER 2
Dank
Three days ago I’d held her in my arms as she fell asleep telling me about all the things she’d packed. I had teased her about packing too much and not being able to fit it all in her
dorm room
. She had promised me she would wear those pick
high heels
on our first official college date. Everything had been perfect. Pagan had loved me.
Now, she didn’t even know me.
“Here it is,”
Miranda
announced as she opened the dorm room that I knew connected to Gee’s room. I’d made sure of that. I also knew this room was the biggest one available.
I wanted
Pagan
to have
the best
. I wanted every experience she had to be perfect. She’d been through so much with me already. This was supposed to be the beginning of our
happily-ever-
after.
“Oh wow. It’s huge! I wonder if this is the right one? We’re just freshman.” The excitement in Miranda’s voice as she spun around and took in her surroundings reminded me that Miranda had forgotte
n it all too. My existence in
the human
world over the past year had been altered. Pagan wouldn’t remember. Th
ey’d taken that from her.
Every memory—
gone.
“You can put that box down over there on that side of the room. Pagan will want to be further from
the bathroom
. It takes me longer to get ready and she
can
sleep later in the mornings.” Miranda was right. Pagan wouldn’t spend much time
getting ready
in the mornings. I
t also reminded me that I
wouldn’t be here to hold her and kiss the sleepy look on her face. I placed the box beside her closet. Agony at the separation was slicing through me. Then there was the fear. What if Pagan didn’t choose me? What if I never held her again? What if she never looked at me again with love in her eyes? Could I exist without that?
No. I couldn’t.
“We’re
gonna
be late,” Gee grumbled from the doorway. It was past time we headed out to collect souls. It was just so hard to leave her now that I had her close again. Being unable to touch her
or allow her to s
ee me was
torture.
“Oh, do you have practice?” Miranda asked batting her eyelashes my way. I’d forgotten she was a Cold Soul fan. I’d been Pagan’s boyfriend to her for a
while now. The fact she was a fan had faded away. This was going to be annoying.
“No he has a
gig
.” Gee explained in an amused drawl.
“Wow, where? Is it sold out? I’d love to go. I’ve never seen you perform live.”
Yeah, she had. Several times. But that was also forgotten. Before I could come up with a suitable reply Gee interrupted me.
“Pagan is outside talking to a boy. One with a Cajun
-
talking Daddy
,
if you know what I mean.”
Shit.
I stalked past Miranda and shoved Gee aside as I made my way down to the
parking lot
in the closest thing to human speed as I could manage. But
because I knew
Leif was
near
Pagan
and she didn’t know who he was
or what he had
done
,
I felt justified a slightly more efficient mode of travel
.
I didn’t want to scare Pagan
by appearing
out of thin air. So I
came up
behind her. Leif felt my presence because his entire body tensed.
“Can I help you carry your things inside?’ Leif asked
Pagain
,
looking
over her shoulder in an attempt to find me.
I started to take a step forward when Gee grabbed my arm and pulled me back with a hard tug. “Stop it. Remember, he isn’t her type. Calm down. Let her handle this. You’re going to fuck everything
up if you act
like some crazed guy with an infatuation. This is not the guy she fell in love with. She fell in love with dark mysterious Dank Walker. She fell in love with Death. Be that guy. Stop being this broken
,
pitiful
,
obsessed
stalker
dude. That won’t get her back. And believe it or not
,
I want Pagan back too.”
She was right. I clenched my fists tightly and waited.
“No thanks. I’ve got this.
It was nice to
meet you
.” Pagan informed him in a slightly annoyed tone that eased my
anxiety
. Gee was right.
Leif wasn’t Pagan’s type. He never had been.
I knew the boy wasn’t stupid enough to try
to
take her again. His father wouldn’t allow it. He was testing the waters to see if she really had forgotten.
“
See
?
She’
s got this. Now let’s go.
Y
ou act mysterious and sexy. Go get your ass on that
motorcycle
and drive away without a word.”
Leaving Pagan was hard. I didn’t want her
to have to carry
all those things inside. I wanted to
do
that
for her
. I was supposed to be the one doing that. She had been going to pay me in sexual favors. We’d joked about it for weeks. But now… she was here. Alone.
“You stay here.
Stay n
ear her. Help he
r
move in.
Most importantly, k
eep the voodoo prince away from her. I’ll be back
as soon as inhumanly possible
.”
Surprisingly
,
Gee didn’t argue.