You Are Mine Little Sister (by Syra Tucker) novel Chapter 106

Veronica burst into the kitchen. Her eyes scanned the place and budged when they locked on me.

"Holy hell! Rali please don't tell me you've been dicing the same onion for three hours!"

I deadpanned. "Spare me, Nica. It hasn't been that long. Besides, this shit is harder than it looks."

"Yeah. For someone like you, I'm damn sure it feels like you're cutting a rock. Remind me to never let you near rice. It'll be ready next year."

I rolled my eyes. Whatever.

As expected, she floated over to her prince charming, wrapped her arms around him, and kissed him like they were the leads of a romcom – one with a slightly higher adult rating.

"I told you you didn't have to worry about the juice, babe," she purred.

"And I told you not to worry about me not worrying." He spanked her ass.

Wow. There wasn't a single trace of the guy who'd just told me an emotional story.

What was I saying? He'd narrated the story like it was an episode from a childhood cartoon, not something traumatic.

I shook my head, going back to my stressful dicing chore.

********

I missed two calls from Void.

I'd been asleep after eating Veronica's sumptuous meal. Wrapped in blankets, I hadn't even heard my phone buzz. When I finally stirred, I called back but got no answer.

I decided not to overthink it. I was already headed home. Whatever it was could wait.

The acrid, throat-burning cloud of tobacco welcomed me the moment I opened the front door. The living room looked dim, but it was far from empty.

Seated on the couch was Void in dark jeans and boots, his white shirt rolled at the sleeves with the first two buttons undone. Smoke curled around his face from the cigar resting between his lips.

His eyes were on me, but they didn't twitch or react. They just stared. Empty.

I frowned at the choking smell. I didn't like that he smoked, but I didn't really have a choice.

"Hi," I threw at him as I made my way to the towering fridge near the dining. I cracked it open and grabbed a bottle of water.

It wasn't until I'd downed nearly half of it that it dawned on me that Void hadn't given me an answer yet.

That was...cold.

"I missed your call." I returned the half bottle to the fridge. "Tried calling back but—"

He gave a slow shake of his head, then raised the cigar to his lips with chilling calm.

He spoke as if he were narrating a stranger's story. The chill in his voice didn't just touch my skin, it crawled into my bones and made itself at home.

I wasn't breathing anymore. I didn't know how the hell I was still standing.

"I didn't believe her," he went on. "Thought I'd have noticed if you quit your job. I mean, jobless people don't put on full outfits every morning like they've got somewhere to be, do they?"

A hollow sound left him, more like a fractured echo of what laughter should've been.

He took two long, unhurried drags from his cigar, giving my body just enough time to frost over with dread.

"Get over here, Rali."

The chill in his tone made me want to shrink into a wall. My palms turned slick. I wiped them on the sides of my dress and then moved slowly, like my bones were made of lead and my heartbeat was trying to climb out of my throat.

When I finally stopped in front of him, I made sure to keep a buffer of safe space between us.

He exhaled another ghost of smoke into the air, watching me through the haze. There was a cemetery behind his gaze, and I had a feeling my name was somewhere on a headstone.

"I'm only going to repeat this once." He was still disturbingly calm. "Where have you been?"