“Zoth broke your heart?”
“I know. Maybe I’m a little overly dramatic considering we weren’t dating, but it really hurt. I thought about not letting him know how much it affected me. I wanted to prove to him that he meant nothing to me. I set up to do a video chat with another guy, and I couldn’t do it.”
“You loved him that much,” I murmur.
Her lips quirk. “Not at first, I couldn’t do it, but the more I thought about how much I cared for him and how much he hurt me, and you better believe that I was able to do it. Only…”
“Only what?”
“He ended up being the one on my screen. He hacked the program so that if I ever did that, it would cut to him. And we started to talk about feelings actually. Yes, demons have feelings, and we worked things out, and we’ve been together ever since.”
“Oh, wow.”
“A lot to take in, huh?” She sips her drink and eyes me over the glass. “What do you think?”
“I think that I’m hurt that you didn’t just tell me all of this when it was happening.”
“Seriously?”
“You don’t give me enough credit.”
“You’re thinking Bay will be Bay, aren’t you?”
“It’s the truth. Yes, I’m thinking that, and Bay will always be Bay.”
She giggles, and I laugh too, but then, after she finishes her drink, she sneaks out despite curfew to see her demon boyfriend.
I don’t tell her this, but I’m worried. Zoth toyed with her heart once. What if he decides to use her again? Bay clearly is devoted to him, but does he deserve that loyalty?
Chapter 20
In bed, I toss and turn. Bay hasn’t always made the best of choices, but she’s a good fairy. Deep down, she’s not all dark. She made the same mistake I did in being friends with Thistle. I didn’t care for Spring from the start. And I was wrong about Bracken, but Bay was right, so we’re both not the best at judging people. Despite that, I’m going to do what I can to find the killer. I want to prove that Damon isn’t the killer, so why not also prove Zoth’s innocence at the same time.
But, I don’t want to do this alone, and as much as I don’t think it’s possible that Bracken had anything to do with the murder, I don’t want to go to him for help.
Not him, but there is someone I have in mind.
Two someones.
I’m done trying to investigate murders by myself. Yes, I had asked Thistle to help me, but he had been the murderer, and I had done a lot of investigating all by myself. Going to see the humans affected by the humans killed…
A tear runs down my face, and I don’t bother to wipe it away.
When morning comes, I pretend I’m not feeling well while the others all leave for their classes. I nod to Bracken, who lingers by my window, not to be a creep but to see if I’m just going to be late.
“I’m not up for classes today,” I inform him.
“You aren’t going to investigate, are you?” he asks.
“Me?” I open my eyes wide, hoping he doesn’t realize I’m not directly answering his question.
He chuckles and flies off.
Quickly, before the boys can head to their classes, I do a three-way call to both Sage and Damon. Damon answers first.
“Rosemary.”
“Hi, Damon. I know we haven’t talked much, and I already apologized, but I can’t say I’m sorry enough—”
“Rosemary?” Sage asks.
“Why is he on the line?” Damon asks.
“Funny,” Sage says dryly, “I could’ve asked the same thing.”
“I know. I know. I didn’t want to call one of you before the other. I need to talk to you both.”
“Let me guess,” Damon says, his tone similar to Sage’s. “You want to investigate the murder.”
I blow out a breath. “I do.”
“Why?”
Sage's simple question should be easy to answer, but it's not. Nothing with me is ever simple, or so it seems.
“Why?” I repeat. “Because I have to at least try. I don’t know why, but I just feel compelled to solve this. It’s stupid. It’s almost wrong what I did last year. I should’ve wanted to help the humans once the serial killer started to terrorize them, but no. I waited until Holly was killed and Cosmo was hurt. I hate that about myself. It’s one of my biggest regrets.”
“Is it now?” Sage asks coolly.
“One of them and far from the only one. I regret hurting you both. I hate that we fought, and I…” I swallow hard. “I know I can’t take back what I said, and I know that some of my words hurt you. I hate that we’re at odds. You both mean so much to me, and I know you hate each other, and I hate that you do.”
“We aren’t alike,” Sage says.
“Aside from wanting you,” Damon says.
I wince. Of course he would say wanting you and not wanting to be with you.
It hurts to ask this right now, and maybe I should focus on the reason behind the call, but I blurt out, “Honestly, guys, why do you even want to be with me?”
“Maybe because you’re frustrating,” Damon says.
“Your eyes light up when you’re passionate about something,” Sage says.
“You have a tiny wrinkle between your eyebrows when you try to figure something out,” Damon adds.
“It doesn’t hurt that you’re hot.”
“That’s true, but you also want to try to change the world.”
“You’re asking for help with this is great. I love that. I really do,” Sage
