Chapter TWENTY-FIVE-ZEKE&CASEY

CASEY

The car jerks to a stop, tires grinding against gravel as we pull into a cracked and overgrown parking lot at the edge of what looks like a long-abandoned industrial park.

Weeds shoot through the asphalt.

A broken streetlamp leans precariously overhead.

There's no one here.

No one to see. No one to help.

Michael kills the engine and turns to look at me in the rearview mirror, his eyes cold, soulless.

I can’t believe I ever thought this man harmless. Or attractive.

It seems so wrong now that I’ve met Zeke. Now that I know what a real man is—even if he can turn into a Dragon.

Zeke is so much more than that. He’s my whole heart. He is the first and only man to really show me what love is.

God, I really don’t want this to be the end.

If I have any regrets at all, it’s on the time I wasted before seizing the day and telling him how much I love him.

I’m sorry we didn’t have more time, Zeke.