Halo

Chapter 14

Wednesday morning. I skipped school. Mom let me. Both my parents were off to work, and I was in the shower before ten thirty. Cold shower. Deserved it for being so stupid and naïve. Again.

I tugged on a sweatshirt and running shorts. Too lazy to run. Too sad to run. I hated running. I was a yogi, not a runner. The lock on my door was jammed. I sighed. It did that often, so I wasn't too worried.

I wrenched my door open and stepped over two unconscious bodies that I didn't ever want to see again. The sex demon that had betrayed me and the devil's son that had also betrayed me.

Fabulous taste in men, Echo Miller. Great job.

I "accidentally" tripped over Ash's leg. Really I just wanted to kick him. He stirred. Went right back to sleep. "Dick," I muttered under my breath.

I grabbed a bowl. Stared at it. Put it back. Not hungry. "When in doubt, yoga out," I shrugged and stepped into the living room. Yoga always made me feel better. When I still felt odd, though, I turned on music and blared it through the TV. That woke up the boys, which made me a little happier.

"You know, if I was mean," I said when Ash ambled down the hall holding his head, "I would've slashed your tires. You know...on your brand new car. The one that you bought solely for the purpose of sleeping with me."

There were bruises all over his face. I noticed it in the light of the living room. He looked awful. I wondered how Luke looked.

"You look like shit," I pointed out.

"Can I please explain?"

I snorted. What could he possibly have to explain? He didn't love me. Simple. As. That. "Only if you promise to leave and never come back." Staring at him, I regretted saying that. "You don't need to explain, Ash; I get it. You're power-hungry, and I'm the easiest target alive. Hell, I'm your only target. You seduced me. Congrats. I was your puppet, and you made it too easy to control me."

"Echo, honey." I glared at him.

"Don't call me that."

"May I remind you that I ended up being your puppet? That I fell for you way harder than you fell for me? That I planned on giving you what was rightfully yours even though I knew it would start riots? That my endless kingdom would never stop hunting me until my head was on a pike right next to yours?"

"If you think you're my puppet, then we've got our strings all tangled up," I laughed without the slightest hint of amusement. "Let me give you a recap on how the past week has gone down. You told me you loved me. You didn't mean it. You convinced me that I loved you. And I did. Hell, I still do. You have my throne. I know you have my throne. And demons are trying to murder me left and right under your command."

"Honey, you left out the part where I love you."

"When you asked me to marry you, you didn't love me."

"I did, but I didn't know it. Takes me a while to register shit like that, babe."

I glared at him. "Do you honestly expect me to believe any of this?" My voice faded. "To believe you?"

"No. I know you won't believe me, but I need you to. Echo, I...don't feel real when I'm not around you. I feel like a psychopathic, angry thing that lives off of drugs and sex. But when I'm with you, you make me...me."

"I think the worst part about this is that while I know I shouldn't believe you, I want to so badly. Because maybe this time you'll tell me the truth. I know you aren't, but there's this tiny little patch of hope left somewhere in the darkest corner of my heart. I honestly thought Luke burned that down when he burned the rest of me down."