Playing Heart Games

Level 62: Get Caught

Warning: Characters discuss self-harm later on in this chapter.

AXEL

It shouldn't have been possible for the world to end multiple times in the space of a few days. And yet, here we were.

The world was ending. Again. And I couldn't even summon fear.

Brielle shook her head, her laughter sharp—pissed. "Oh—you two..."

Do something Axel.

I stepped towards her. "Brielle—"

She slapped me.

A lot of people seemed to have a problem with my face.

"Hey!" Violet yelled, getting in between us. "Do not touch him!"

I blinked, and then felt a burst of a weird fuzzy emotion. She's trying to protect me.

I was struck by the overwhelming urge to kiss her, then remembered now probably wasn't an appropriate time.

I snapped out of my daze when Brielle lifted her hand again. I caught her wrist.

"You can hit me all you want," I growled, "but you will not hit Violet."

Brielle yanked her hand from my grip. "You are going to regret this," she hissed. She stormed out of the room.

I didn't move as the door shut. Resignation settled over my limbs.

It was done. All of it was done.

Violet picked up the cold compress from where it had fallen, dusted it off, and pressed it to my cheek.

I smiled. "Thanks."

She stared at the door. "How did she know we were here?" she whispered.

"I forgot to turn off my location."

Me and my mistakes. I could never do anything right.

She stared up at me, eyes wide with worry. "What are we going to do now?"

I smiled. "I'm going to kiss you."

I pressed my lips to hers. Thankfully, she didn't pull away.

This was probably the last I would see of her before the world went to sh*t.

*

The world looked tiny from the balcony of my hotel room. It was the kind of balcony that was made entirely of glass, so I could look down and see the lights of smaller skyscrapers, the glimmer of vehicles on the streets, even the stream of human figures.

I could pretend none of them mattered. That I was so far up into the sky that they didn't exist.

Except for Violet.

Violet would exist in any fantasy.

"Axel?"

I blinked, then looked away from the view. Asher was standing in the doorway of the living room, staring at me.

I forced a smile. "Hey."

I'd left a key card at the apartment when I'd gotten this hotel suite, in case Asher needed to talk to me.

It was strange how things had changed. How I thought about Asher almost all the time now—worried about him, worried that something would set him off, worried that he wouldn't be able to get a hold of me. Worried that he'd slip back into old habits.

Asher walked towards me, hesitating at the threshold of the balcony.

I remembered that he was scared of heights.