Page 310 of Sorrow & Strangers

“I know it’s a dull place to be without me.” I hear Alice’s smile and the softness in her voice. She misses me too. “Now get back to fucking the stranger.”

The stranger chuckles, and my cheeks heat a little.

“We’re not—” I start to protest, but she ends the call, and I pull the phone away from my ear and look at the screen. “Bitch.”

“Because she knows you?” the stranger asks, rolling out of bed and prowling toward me, cupping my cheek.

“Does she? You and I are not fucking,” I say, glaring up at him.

He smirks. “But she knew why you were passed out on top of me, even if she’s wrong about how far it went.”

“Maybe you should fuck me and prove her right,” I say, glancing at his lips.

“Is that the only reason?” he growls, grabbing my hips and pulling me against him.

I arch against him, wiggling a little. “Well, no . . . but none of my other tactics appear to be working.”

“Is that the truth? Or am I resisting so that for our first time you can look at me, feel my skin, and scream my name?”

“Fuck,” I whisper, my core throbbing. I lean in, but then a door slams down the hall, and I frown, glancing at my bedroom door.

I pull away from him and open my bedroom door to see Mira storming down the stairs, Rafe on her heels.

“I said I don’t want to talk about it, Rafe,” she says. I glance at the stranger before following them out. “Especially when you’re leaving me for two fucking years.”

“I don’t understand why you won’t just explain it to me. Is it a secret?” Rafe asks with a low growl in his voice.

I follow them downstairs, seeing the embers sparking at the ends of ­Mira’s long, wavy hair.

“And I don’t understand why you would make a deal with the devil, but here we are.” I stand on the stairs, watching them. Rafe looks up at me, frowning.

Mira grabs a bottle of water and stomps back upstairs, leaving a wave of heat in her wake as she passes me. We all flinch when she slams her bedroom door behind her. I glance up the stairs, watching with wide eyes as the door sparks with flame and creaks before settling. She’s obviously used some sort of phoenix rune to seal it.

Rafe pushes past me, his large body almost toppling me. The stranger snarls protectively and steadies me as Rafe slams his fist on her door. “Mira!”

“Go away, Rafe,” Mira growls from behind the door.

He bangs the door again, and I go back upstairs to the landing.

“Rafe.”

“Mira!”

“Rafe, maybe give her a minute?” I say, placing my hand on his arm.

“She can’t come to Hell,” Rafe growls, pressing his forehead to her door.

I nod.

“She’s from Pyrrhos, but she won’t tell me why she can’t come via there.”

I know part of the reason, and I glance at the stranger who also knows, but it’s not our place to tell him. It’s not our story to tell.

The stranger walks to me and places his hand on my hip.

“Rafe,” I say, looking back at him.

“What?” he says, slamming his fist against the door again.