Chapter 28

"How long are you going to stare at my neck like a starving dog?"

Ren looked away from Ashton's neck. He'd been focused on a specific spot where he wanted to sink his fangs in so deep that Ashton would scream. In a progression of just a few seconds, he had a plan mapped out in his head of just how he'd do it.

He would shove Ashton down to the ground, press their bodies together, and take what he wanted. He didn't know he wanted to hold Ashton down by the neck and drink to his fill until then. He was mesmerized by the possibilities though he couldn't bring himself to actually do it.

The dark thing inside of him was begging to make his fantasies come true. The dark thoughts that plagued his mind were more than just side affects of what the dark thing was doing to him. Those were his actual thoughts. He was that fucked up.

He turned his head away. His face was flushed, burning from the tips of his ears to his cheeks and then down to his chest.

But he wasn't alone. He'd seen a glimpse of Ashton's face. There was a light dusting of pink on his white cheeks that hadn't been there before. Ren had done that to him. It was a small crack in the otherwise impenetrable wall, but it was enough to give Ren the idea that it was possible to get underneath Ashton's skin.

"What are here for?" He decided that it was best to ignore Ashton's remarks about him staring.

Ashton moved away from the bed. Even so, Ren couldn't get rid of the memory of his body heat.

"We haven't got much of a lead in this investigation. We need to find something or else we're not going to get anywhere."

At least he was starting to say 'we'. Ren considered it progress. Slow progress, but progress none-the-less.

He hadn't moved back from the bed. He was just standing there. Ren didn't want to be the one to make the first move. He wasn't exactly content in being in this uncomfortable position for much longer, but he didn't know how to get out of it.

He flexed his fingers, his thoughts racing a hundred miles a minute. They were going back and forth between what he should do and what he shouldn't so he looked less like an idiot. In the end, he came up with nothing and he was left with no other thought other than that he was going to fuck this up.

He rolled onto his side. He sat up, facing the wall, so that he didn't have to see Ashton. It wasn't enough to pretend that he wasn't there. He knew that Ashton was behind him, watching him with that honey eyes that seemed to know everything.

They didn't. He didn't know half of the shit that Ren had gone through. Yet, his body was reacting like Ashton was the biggest threat in the world.

"And?"

It felt like they were going in circles. Well, Ren felt like he was going in circles. He was putting up a facade. He wasn't calm, but he was trying to mask it. The answer felt foreign. It had slipped off his lips though he didn't feel it. Someone else was talking. The words were just air that had no meaning to them.

"I figure our best bet would be to follow one of them. Either we find out where they're located or we find out what they're working on." There was a rustle. The boards creaked as Ashton leaned his weight to his left leg. "As much as I don't want to look at you either, it's annoying to talk to the back of a head."

Dull. That was the word Ren had been searching for. It described perfectly what his senses were like right then.

Of course, everything that dealt with Ashton was like molten lava. He was being burned by all the sensory stimuli that was radiating off of Ashton like a furnace.

He stood up. He turned. He didn't look Ashton in the eyes. That would have been too much.

"You think that would work?" He crossed his arms to hide the shaking in his hands.

Ashton had pointed it out last time. He'd rather no give him another thing to taunt him with.

Ashton blankly stared at him. His upper lip twitched. "It will."

The words were spoken slowly.

"Okay then," Ren said, backpedaling. He didn't fucking know why he'd questioned Ashton. He couldn't fucking think straight right then.

He felt like an absolute idiot and he couldn't get his fucking body to settle down.

Ashton looked him over. There wasn't heat in his eyes like there had been moment before. He furrowed his brows and cocked his head.

"There is something off about you."

Ren choked. "O-Off?"

This time, he definitely couldn't look him in the eyes. He gazed past him, looking at the window. The forest looked a lot safer than he felt in his own bedroom. It wasn't just Ashton. It was the implications that came along with his presence, whatever that was that Ren had felt when he'd been laying in his bed, and the thirst Ren had for his blood.

All those things were melding together to form a big ball of fuckery that was driving Ren crazy. It was all the things that he didn't want to deal with when he was trying to solve the mystery that was the murderer of the young girl.

And then there was also the fact that Ashton might find out that Ren was half witch. That was one thing that would end up with him being in trouble. He didn't know if the Mantels had known that his mom was a witch when they knew each other, but he highly doubted that Ashton would care all that much.

They had an agreement though. However, when that ended, would Ashton do anything when he found out Ren was a witch?

There was no telling if he wouldn't kill Ren on the spot because he hated witches so much.

Ashton's gaze narrowed. "Yeah. It's that thing that you're not telling. You're not a very good liar. It shows."

Ren flushed even more. Ashton was watching him close enough to notice when he was lying. That shouldn't have made him as happy as it did.

He rolled his eyes. "I don't need you telling me how you can read me like a book."

He tried to walk around Ashton. He made it just a few steps when Ashton pulled him to the side.

He fell awkwardly to the side. The only thing that stopped him was Ashton's firm hand on his bicep and Ashton's sturdy body. As thin as he looked, he looked like he could be pushed over by a gust of wind.

Ren was wrong about that.

Just by his body pressed against Ashton's, he could feel the rigid muscles beneath his fancy clothes. He barely moved when Ren fell into him.

"Are you trying to piss me off?" Ashton's lips were pulled to the side. Like he'd tasted the most awful thing in the world.

He's not going to do anything. He's bluffing.

As much as he repeated those reassuring words, his brain wasn't believing them.

Instead of lookin Ashton in the eyes—he knew that would be a bad idea—he stared at the space between his brows. He tried not to think about how he probably looked ridiculous. That wasn't anything new and it wasn't like he was trying to impress Ashton.

He shouldn't be anyway.

"Is it working?"

Fuck. That wasn't what he meant to say.

He swallowed. The lump in his throat was getting bigger. He wasn't going to back down though. It wasn't like he could take back the words.

Ashton's nose wrinkled. His brows furrowed and he was thinking hard about something. Ren wished he knew what he was thinking. It would be easy to get rid of this strange feeling in his chest if he could see the dark thoughts that were swirling around in Ashton's head. If he saw how much of a vile person he was, his body would think twice about how it reacted.

Ashton dropped his grip on Ren's arm. "Let's go before I decide to rip your head off."

It wasn't a threat he was able to actually fulfill. The agreement was still in place. That was the only good thing that had come out of them meeting. Ren didn't have to worry for awhile about Ashton wanting to kill him.

The tension hadn't left Ren's shoulders. His body was buzzing, the dark thing lurking at the surface. It was whispering about all the things it wanted to do to Ashton. It kept trying to push Ren over the ledge and make him take the addictive blood he couldn't stop thinking about.

Ashton threw the window open and a cold gust of wind knocked into Ren. The cold dismantled some of the dark thoughts. He shook the rest away though he couldn't do anything to get rid of them completely. They were still there and he feared that they would always be.

The worst of it was that he was starting to get used to them being there. Almost as if they'd been there all along and it was only now that he'd noticed.

He watched as Ashton dropped from the window to the ground. He landed in a crouch, his right hand in-between his legs to steady himself. He looked up, meeting Ren's eyes.

Ren stepped back.

"You've got this. You can't do this," he mumbled. He wasn't sure if he was talking about the jump or about tolerating being around Ashton.

He decided that it didn't matter.

He copied Ashton's form as much as he could. He threw both legs out of the window and stabled himself with his arms behind him. His fingers clamped down onto the wood. He hissed as the old wood poked him, but he made no sound.

He took one breath and then he jumped.

The fall felt like forever and also less than a second. He was falling through the air, the sound of the wind soft in his ears, and the ground was racing toward him.

The suspension in time was a piece of reality that was plucked from the threads of the universe. He could feel it as if it was something that could be held or seen. His nerves quivered as light shocks went through him. His stomach tumbled. He had only a small fraction of a second to think about his movements before it would be too late.

But in the end, it was all reflex.

He landed like Ashton had, however, a lot less graceful. He lost his balance, almost falling back on his butt, but he caught himself with his other hand.

Pinpricks ran up his legs. They felt like jelly that was pumped full of needles. It was uncomfortable to say the least.

"Not bad," Ashton off-handedly said. He shrugged his shoulders. He was standing with one hand on his hip. It was too casual.

Ren glowered at him. "Show off."

He dusted himself off.

"I'll try and 'show off' later."

They headed into the forest. They were going away from Ren's house and away from Ashton's. They were heading to the bad side of town which Ren was familiar with.

It didn't go unnoticed by Ren that they were walking in the same pace and were almost in synch with one another.

He purposely missed a step so that their steps weren't the same.

It hadn't settled in and until then that he was pushing himself over the edge. All the times before, he'd been able to say that he'd been forced into this situation by Ashton. This time, he was going by his own choice.

But he wasn't going to admit that his home was feeling less like home. Or that spending time with Ashton was better than dodging the awkward moments with his mom.

He still hated Ashton. That hated changed.

Not at all.