Free Duality: Vol 2, Euphoria (A New Adult Paranormal Romance) by Elle Casey Page A

impossible to stay mad at Rae.  It was probably her Influencer power or whatever.
    “I don’t think he’s a nut.  Seriously.  He and Mrs. Butts seem really cool, don’t you think?”
    I shrugged, not willing to admit that I did think that about them.  They were nothing like the foster parents I’d had in the past.
    “Do you have any money?” she asked me, her tone very sweet.
    I gritted my teeth for a few seconds before letting the answer out.  “No.”
    “A place to go?  You told me before you didn’t.”
    “No.  What’s your point?”
    “My point is, let’s just stay with them until we know a little more.  If anything gets weird, I promise, I’ll leave with you.  We stick together.”
    “You and me?”
    “Yes.  You and me.”  She took my hand and laced her fingers through mine.  “Together.  Us against the world.”
    I don’t know why, but when she said that, it’s like all the anger just faded away.  Hope crept in, even though I was trying like hell to make it go away.  There was a tinge of sadness laced around it, telling me I was suffering under Rae’s Rainbow power, but I didn’t care enough to walk away from it. Not right now, anyway.  She looked so sincere, with tears making her eyes shiny.  She really wanted me to stay.  Maybe she was afraid to do it alone.  And she was right … I had no money and no plan.  The Butts had offered me both; it would be stupid to turn them down when they weren’t asking me for much in return.
    “Fine.  I’ll come with you and stick with you on one condition.”
    “Okay, anything.”
    I smiled a little.  “Don’t you want to hear what it is, first?”
    She grinned back, the tears disappearing before they could fall.  “I don’t care what it is.  As long as I can be with you, I’ll be happy.”
    My heart nearly exploded with those words.  A fire burned in there, lit by her kindness.  By the happiness I saw waiting for me in her world.  Maybe … just maybe, I could be happy with someone in my life.  Rae.
    “I want you to promise me that when I say it’s time to go, you’ll go with me.  That you won’t fight me or try to make me stay.”
    “Okay, fine.  But you have to promise me something in return.”
    I nodded.  “That’s fair.”
    “You won’t tell us it’s time to leave until one of us is being hurt or taken advantage of.  You can’t leave just because you get scared.”
    I frowned.  “I wasn’t leaving because I was scared.”
    She gripped my hand harder when I tried to draw it away.  “Yes you were.  Who wouldn’t be?  I was pee-my-pants terrified.  But it still wasn’t a good reason to leave.  We have a lot of b.s. to get over, you know?  The stuff that’s happened to us?  We’re not going to be okay. Not now and probably not ever.  But let’s just be the best we can be, together.”
    I nodded, the glimmer of hope I’d felt earlier turning into a full blown laser beam, hitting me right in the eyes.  “You’re asking me to stick.”  I’d never stuck.  Not ever.
    “Yeah.  I’m asking you to stick with me.  That’s it.”
    I nodded again, unable to speak.  No one had ever wanted me to be with them except for the purpose of helping them die.  Rae wanted me with her so that she could live.  And be happy.  It was such a foreign concept, I didn’t know what to say.
    “Good.  Now come on.  Kootch is getting all the good pancakes.”
    “He’s probably eaten them all,” I said, turning back to walk to the Butts house.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Eleven: Rae
     
    WE WERE BACK AT THE table, eating quietly, having put the discussion on the back burner until after breakfast, when Ho Ho the giant monster dog started barking like mad out in the backyard.
    “Get downstairs, go!” said Mrs. Butts, looking at Jasmine and then Malcolm and me.
    Jasmine jumped up, running around the table.  “Kootch, plates!”
    I saw him leaning over the table and grabbing Malcolm and my