With All My Soul
Page 34
Harmony nodded. And that was the last of that.
* * *
Where were you today? I dropped onto the end of Tods bed and crossed my legs beneath me, then set my shoes on the floor. They landed on a pile of laundry he wouldnt get around to washing until he had nothing left to wear. At all.
Laundry day was my favorite day to visit for that very reason.
Work. I didnt get your text till this afternoon. He came out of the teeny bathroomthe only other room in his tiny suite in the reaper headquarters buildingholding two plastic cups of water. Im all yours now, though. What will you do with me?
What are my options?
Anything you want, Kaylee. The heat in his gaze set me on fire in all the right places. Time is on our side, youth is our immortal legacy, and you are all Ive ever wanted. This could be the best night of our afterlives.
Then what would we do tomorrow night?
Tomorrow, we top our personal best. He set the cups on the minifridge serving as his bedside table, and the dim overhead light cast highlights and shadows on every plane and ridge of his bare chest. I like a challenge.
I like you. I pulled him onto the twin mattress with me. Tod landed on his side, propped up on one elbow. I leaned down to kiss him, and when I started to pull away, his hand slid behind the back of my head, his fingers in my hair, holding me in place gently so our kiss would last. And last. And last...
When Tod finally let me go, my head was spinning, and that had nothing to do with the fact that I hadnt taken a breath in several minutes and everything to do with the fact that he made me feel alive. He was the closest thing to a drug that Id ever experienced, and I had yet to find a limit to what Id be willing to do to protect him. To keep us together.
Id spent most of my life setting boundaries. Lines I wouldnt cross. Lines I wouldnt let others cross. But with Tod, there were no boundaries. No limits. Time was not an issue. I loved him without reservation. Id given him everything I had and everything I was, and hed done the same. Hed given up his life for Nash, but hed been willing to give up eternity for me. Not just willinghed actually done it.
Id seen Levi, his boss, confiscate his soul and end his afterlife because hed refused to kill me and reap my soul.
We had eternity to love each other, but after the way our relationship had begunwith loss and death and sacrificeevery single moment felt like a gift neither of us was willing to take for granted.
Oh! I almost forgot. Tod rolled away from me and reached past the edge of the mattress to pull open the top door of the minifridge, which exposed the even more mini freezer. When he rolled toward me again, he held a small container of Phish Food, my favorite ice cream, and two plastic spoons. I know its small. This is the only sizethat would fit in the freezer.
Whats the occasion? I took the spoon he handed me while he opened the carton and peeled off the plastic seal.
Tuesday. He frowned and twisted to glance at the alarm clock on top of the freezer. For another forty minutes, anyway. He handed me the plastic seal and I licked ice cream from it, then leaned over to drop it into the trash can at the foot of his bed. Which was wedged into a scant foot of space between the mattress and the only chair in the room. His place was so small we could practically reach everything in the room from one end of the bed or another.
But it was all his. Ours, he insisted, on nearly a daily basis. We were the only two people in either world who knew exactly where his place was. Nash had been in the room, but Tod had blinked him there, so on his own, Nash couldnt find reaper headquarters again even if he wanted to. And he did not.
The rest of the reapers and my dad knew where the headquarters building was but not which room was Tods.
And the best part about Tods place was that there was no exit. Literally. The only door was the one separating the tiny bathroom from the small main room. There was no exit because reapers didnt need doors, and now I didnt either, and that was beyond convenient, because this way neither of us could lose the key. The absence of windows made things feel a little claustrophobic sometimes, but the fact that no one could burst in on us made up for that completely.
Do you have any idea how hot it is when you lick that plastic ice cream thing? Tods eyes were swirling when I scooted across the mattress toward him, rumpling the already chaotic mess of sheets and blankets. It never ceased to amaze me how disheveled his bed always was, considering that he rarely slept at all. If ever. Id never seen him sleep, anyway.
No. But youre welcome to tell me....
Its so hot Im considering opening another carton, just to watch the replay.
I smiled. Sounds like you need to cool off.
Thats not what I need. In fact, thats the opposite of what I need. But I might accept a short delay in the form of one of those little chocolate fishes.
Laughing, I dug a fish-shaped bite of fudge out with my spoon and fed it to him.
Mmm... This is the best part of being dead.
No, this is the best part of being dead. I kissed him, and his tongue was cold and he tasted like fudge. So I kissed him again.
We did that when you were alive, you know.
Yeah, but only for a day. Because Id died on the second day of our relationship. And... But never here. Never in absolute privacy. Never after my father went to sleep, in a totally separate building, with no idea where we are or what were doing. If I were still alive, my dad would be enforcing my curfew much more strictly.
* * *
Where were you today? I dropped onto the end of Tods bed and crossed my legs beneath me, then set my shoes on the floor. They landed on a pile of laundry he wouldnt get around to washing until he had nothing left to wear. At all.
Laundry day was my favorite day to visit for that very reason.
Work. I didnt get your text till this afternoon. He came out of the teeny bathroomthe only other room in his tiny suite in the reaper headquarters buildingholding two plastic cups of water. Im all yours now, though. What will you do with me?
What are my options?
Anything you want, Kaylee. The heat in his gaze set me on fire in all the right places. Time is on our side, youth is our immortal legacy, and you are all Ive ever wanted. This could be the best night of our afterlives.
Then what would we do tomorrow night?
Tomorrow, we top our personal best. He set the cups on the minifridge serving as his bedside table, and the dim overhead light cast highlights and shadows on every plane and ridge of his bare chest. I like a challenge.
I like you. I pulled him onto the twin mattress with me. Tod landed on his side, propped up on one elbow. I leaned down to kiss him, and when I started to pull away, his hand slid behind the back of my head, his fingers in my hair, holding me in place gently so our kiss would last. And last. And last...
When Tod finally let me go, my head was spinning, and that had nothing to do with the fact that I hadnt taken a breath in several minutes and everything to do with the fact that he made me feel alive. He was the closest thing to a drug that Id ever experienced, and I had yet to find a limit to what Id be willing to do to protect him. To keep us together.
Id spent most of my life setting boundaries. Lines I wouldnt cross. Lines I wouldnt let others cross. But with Tod, there were no boundaries. No limits. Time was not an issue. I loved him without reservation. Id given him everything I had and everything I was, and hed done the same. Hed given up his life for Nash, but hed been willing to give up eternity for me. Not just willinghed actually done it.
Id seen Levi, his boss, confiscate his soul and end his afterlife because hed refused to kill me and reap my soul.
We had eternity to love each other, but after the way our relationship had begunwith loss and death and sacrificeevery single moment felt like a gift neither of us was willing to take for granted.
Oh! I almost forgot. Tod rolled away from me and reached past the edge of the mattress to pull open the top door of the minifridge, which exposed the even more mini freezer. When he rolled toward me again, he held a small container of Phish Food, my favorite ice cream, and two plastic spoons. I know its small. This is the only sizethat would fit in the freezer.
Whats the occasion? I took the spoon he handed me while he opened the carton and peeled off the plastic seal.
Tuesday. He frowned and twisted to glance at the alarm clock on top of the freezer. For another forty minutes, anyway. He handed me the plastic seal and I licked ice cream from it, then leaned over to drop it into the trash can at the foot of his bed. Which was wedged into a scant foot of space between the mattress and the only chair in the room. His place was so small we could practically reach everything in the room from one end of the bed or another.
But it was all his. Ours, he insisted, on nearly a daily basis. We were the only two people in either world who knew exactly where his place was. Nash had been in the room, but Tod had blinked him there, so on his own, Nash couldnt find reaper headquarters again even if he wanted to. And he did not.
The rest of the reapers and my dad knew where the headquarters building was but not which room was Tods.
And the best part about Tods place was that there was no exit. Literally. The only door was the one separating the tiny bathroom from the small main room. There was no exit because reapers didnt need doors, and now I didnt either, and that was beyond convenient, because this way neither of us could lose the key. The absence of windows made things feel a little claustrophobic sometimes, but the fact that no one could burst in on us made up for that completely.
Do you have any idea how hot it is when you lick that plastic ice cream thing? Tods eyes were swirling when I scooted across the mattress toward him, rumpling the already chaotic mess of sheets and blankets. It never ceased to amaze me how disheveled his bed always was, considering that he rarely slept at all. If ever. Id never seen him sleep, anyway.
No. But youre welcome to tell me....
Its so hot Im considering opening another carton, just to watch the replay.
I smiled. Sounds like you need to cool off.
Thats not what I need. In fact, thats the opposite of what I need. But I might accept a short delay in the form of one of those little chocolate fishes.
Laughing, I dug a fish-shaped bite of fudge out with my spoon and fed it to him.
Mmm... This is the best part of being dead.
No, this is the best part of being dead. I kissed him, and his tongue was cold and he tasted like fudge. So I kissed him again.
We did that when you were alive, you know.
Yeah, but only for a day. Because Id died on the second day of our relationship. And... But never here. Never in absolute privacy. Never after my father went to sleep, in a totally separate building, with no idea where we are or what were doing. If I were still alive, my dad would be enforcing my curfew much more strictly.
