Page 41 of The Vampire Oracle

She punched out first, making me dodge it so easily. She was faster, I will give her that, but I was faster than that.

I dropped down, swung my leg, and knocked her off balance. Her butt hit the mat, making me look down at her with a smirk. Her face got serious as she stood.

Hit by hit, blow by blow, we sparred. I was calm and able to block her moves, though she did land some good ones, but nothing that knocked me off my feet.

I got too cocky, feeling my back hit the wall. She was backing me up this whole time.

She jumped up, kicking my face. I dodged it last second, stumbling to keep my balance. But she attacked, wrapping her arm around me and slamming me onto the mat.

Then she was on top of me, punching out.

I flinched, but the blow never came.

Psalm let out a giggle that had me looking up at her. She caught herself on her fist near my face as she laughed. That laugh had been my favorite, no one was ever going to replace that. It was higher pitched as a kid, but now it was perfect.

Her hips rubbed against mine, instantly making heat rushed to my hips. Instantly my cock grew, making me fist her hair and pull her to the side. In a flash, I was on top of her, making sure my dick wasn’t on her.

Psalm smiled up at me. “Now, I know why you don’t have a girlfriend.”

I froze… Did she actually know why? Did I give myself away?

“You always have to be in control. Don’t you, Cozie?”

Sighing, I stared at her. She knew nothing about how I felt about her. I thought I could keep these feelings down, hide them, especially since we hadn’t seen each other in years.

My eyes flicked to her full pink lips. I shouldn’t think about kissing her, especially when she was already taken. She belonged to those men, not me.

“Coz? What’s wrong?” she asked, licking her lips.

My cock twitched. She had to know what she did to me.

I sat up, turning away from her. “Just… remembering a lot of the past around you.”

“Are they bad?” she whispered.

“Which ones aren’t? Our life was shit, P,” I deadpanned.

“Not all of it,” she muttered, running her fingers over the cattle like brand that was now on my back. Most of the scars on my body were from the time that I didn’t like thinking about.

“Name one,” I grumbled, finally getting my cock soft. The past wasn’t something that I loved to think about.

“The nice bread Jade stole for us.”

“And she got beat,” I added.

“I don’t remember that. I remember… the taste of the bread and the laughs we shared over it…”

I glanced at her over my shoulder. She was sitting close to me, eyes on my back, taking in the scars or tattoos or something. Her lips were parted like my body mesmerized her. “I remember it differently. I was older than you, and Jade—”

“Don’t mention what she would have remembered,” she snapped.

“She’s not back, Psalm. She’s dead.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about or what I saw.”

I rolled my eyes. “The mind plays tricks on you. I used to see my parents in the crowd and thought they were back for me. That day was traumatic. You saw what you wanted to see.”

“I wanted to see my dead sister and be reminded of the feelings I had?”