The City of Crows by Bethany Lovejoy (novels in english .txt) 📗

Seeing that light, hearing that sound; I couldn’t imagine what silence following it would feel like.

I crept towards the door, filling my lungs before I thought to do anything foolish. With that breath, one that seemed to stay in my mouth and never actually hit my airway, I grabbed the doorhandle.

I exhaled.

Slowly and silently, I brought down the door handle. I needed to do it that way, I needed time to mentally prepare myself. Fear, the kind that you feel in your shoulders and back like a phantom pain, soaked into my skin. I closed my eyes, counting to five before my hip made contact with the door, shoving it open with all of my weight.

The door swung open and I could not find a way to stay on my feet. I came tumbling into the bathroom and was stopped by a hand flying to my waist before I could make contact with the ground, the owner’s other hand still firmly grabbing onto his towel.

“Woah!” A familiar voice cried out in warning, while hauling me back onto my feet as his hands readjusted the knot at his waist to be further accident proof. “Lyra, you need to knock first,” Leo chided, withdrawing almost immediately. “I was just about to get out and get changed.”

I withdrew like my skin was on fire, my cheeks burning. Looking over at the other person beside me. Leo stood dripping wet, a look of astonishment painted across his face. A long expanse of wet skin stared back at me; tight muscles hidden behind light sprinklings of body hair. I ripped my eyes away from his lower half and concentrated on his face, or at least I tried to... The soaked skin of his face lurking dangerously near was no better. I finally picked a spot on the wall behind him and chose to focus on that instead.

“Lyra, are you okay…?” He began to ask, hands once again reaching for me.

I avoided the contact, hastily muttering, “Yes, just… here.” Oh my god, I’d almost seen him—

“Okay,” said Leo, his voice strained. “Well, that’s good…” He coughed, the sort of awkward cough that one makes when in a situation they deem to be highly uncomfortable. I couldn’t fault him for it, this wasn’t exactly an ideal way to great each other, not now. Likely it was far worse for him than me—scratch that, it was definitely far worse, I had my clothes on. “Listen, you just stay in here and I’ll…” He trailed off, catching just how red I was. At that moment, I wished I’d never worried about Leo to begin with.

“Yeah, you go in your room and change, and I’ll just stay here and wait,” I finished for him.

“Right,” Leo said with an awkward nod, clumsily stepping around me. “Then you can begin to explain why you left today,” he cast a worried look over his shoulder, pulling the door to the living space open.

“That’s, um—” I began to say, desperately searching for a reason as the door shut quietly behind him. Coming up with none, a half truth was preferable. “You said you would be gone until late!” I called through the door, pressing myself against it so that he would hear it.

“It is late,” Leo chuckled on the other side of the room, the clattering of drawers almost drowning out his voice. “Very late, in fact, I don’t know if you noticed that it’s already night. I was worried when you weren’t home.”

“That’s…” God, why couldn’t I speak? Why were all the words that came to me then the wrong ones? I set my head against the door with a sigh, wishing I had the wonderful gift of articulation rather than a gift for opening my mouth and letting absolute nonsense tumble out. “I just, I needed air. I was worried about you, that something bad would happen. I didn’t like the idea of you going to the Lobdel’s, not after everything that’s happened.”

“The Lobdel’s?” Leo asked, an exasperated edge to his voice. I heard the floor creek, the doorknob of the bathroom jiggle to reveal him standing in front of me, drying his hair with a towel, his chest was still bare but at least he was wearing pajama pants now. With the stretch of his torso, he revealed the faintest glimpse of cotton gathered on elastic, the top of his boxers. “You were right, Pat wasn’t helpful at all. Too focused on her own needs to help me, it was a huge disappointment.”

It appeared that Pat and I had something in common at that moment, as I struggled to tear my eyes away from his lean, muscular chest. I told myself that I was looking for any sign that he might have been hurt. “Yeah?”

“She was really evasive,” Leo shrugged, finally finishing with his towel. He slid by me, his body just inches from mine as he passed me to throw his towel over the glass shower door to dry. “More focused on her other guests, even when I tried to get her attention. She double booked me, a bunch of guys showed up halfway through my meeting with her.”

“There were other people?” I asked, my eyes widening.

But to Leo, it was of no concern. He pushed past me once more, sighing heavily. “No closer today, huh?” His genuine disappointment was audible. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that actually, we were far closer, but I wasn’t sure if we should actually pursue the proposed solution I’d found. “You want tea again, or do you need coffee? More importantly, have you eaten? Maybe we should order Greek today.”

I was taken aback by the normalcy. “I-I’ll have whatever you’re having.”

Leo snorted, giving me a smirk in return. “No, I don’t think you will. It’s not your style. Maybe you should have lemon lavender tonight? Or something more calming, you seem on edge.” Momentarily, he paused, considering something for a moment before moving once more. In three long strides, he