HORNS (BoyXBoy)

Chapter 75

Author's Note: Enjoy the Trailer

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Chapter Seventy Five

The next day was July fifth, a Wednesday; I'd done my homework on the lunar cycle before turning in and knew that I had thirteen days before the next full moon on the eighteenth. I hadn't been able to fall asleep easily after the conversation I'd had with Echo, though.

I'd been buzzing from head to toe with the knowledge that he'd confessed.

He'd admitted he loved me. He'd said it against my skin, silently, mouthing it. 

That fact coupled with the talk we'd had about his feelings coming and going, the belated trauma of watching his father's murder after seeing how parents were supposed to act, and then being quite literally owned and sexually abused by the same guy who'd killed his dad... yeah, it was fucked up, made only moreso by the fact that his mother was being used like an animal.

I was fucking pissed about it which made falling asleep harder than usual.

At some point I must have, though, because when I next opened my eyes it was roughly six in the evening and I felt well-rested. I groggily turned my head to see Echo sleeping soundly by my side, drooling a little onto the pillow, halfway in and out of the sheet with his hair tangled. I studied his round, sleeping face, drinking in his long eyelashes, those perfect Cupid's bow lips, and that elegant nose--just listening to the sound of his breathing and his steady pulse.

I tingled from head to toe with the abrupt urge to reach out and cuddle him, but I didn't want to wake him up. I smiled at him and leaned over, kissing him on the cheek.

"I love you," I whispered, then quietly rolled out of bed and started getting dressed. Of course, the first thing I did once I was wearing my disguise was send a text letting him know that I was heading out to talk to Aerin about his mom's situation just in case he woke up after I was gone.

I figured since it was late that he would be awake with the kids, but I heard nothing but silence from Renee's door when I swung by her place, and upon heading downstairs and walking up to Jun's apartment, I also heard silence save for what sounded like a television show. 

I sighed through my nose and rapped on the door frame, looking down the halls. A strange chill shot down my spine as I gazed at the empty, silent, long, beige-carpeted corridor and I felt the fur on my legs and ears stand up, prickling madly. I went tense, eyes flitting to and fro, feeling as if I were being watched by someone, a deep fight or flight instinct springing to life. My tail raised and fluffed out under my clothes and I shrank lower, slowly peering around, nostrils flaring with alertness. I didn't see anything out of place, though, which confused me.

Even more oddly, a sudden wave of pleasant something pulsed through me and I instinctively relaxed, as if being consoled by something unseen. I shivered, shoulders bunching involuntarily as what felt like insubstantial fingers caressed the side of my face, as if to say, 'It's okay.'

"What the hell?" I whispered, touching my cheek, eyes wide. "Is this place haunted?"

I looked around, still feeling those eyes on me, but... well, I was no longer spooked.

It was odd.

Just as I was contemplating my sanity, Aerin opened Jun's front door, looking at me with groggy blue eyes through his tangled white hair. He peered up at me, dressed in oversized pastel pink pajamas, and let loose a yawn before pushing his hair back and off his forehead with his fingers.