LOVE ME TO DEATH

d like dying wasps as Mia Carter stared

isn't

cian had done a decent job, platinum hair styled in Lana's signature messy waves, th

teen, when her stepfather's whiskey bottle had found its mark. Mia could still hear her

coffin had smoo

e quick, always had. These were polish

e buzzed. A text

ust what

oppressive heat congealed into some

rialized at her elbow, his aftershave c

is sleeve. "T

ach his eyes. "Dent

cracked. "Where's the

elled like bergamot and something darker beneath, like wine left to turn

swing open, revealing the gleam of rosewood,

over. She hadn'

er through a haze of incense smoke. When she shov

shing her wrist where Ethan had gr

________________________

s and then froze. Three hours had passed. The sun hung low,

er ha

ticles. A fresh scratch curved over her knuckles like a crescent moo

oo

as she drove home, the streets blurring. She'd l

lding. Something glinted in her rearview mi

________________________

ter with a clatter. T

scre

oom mirror in Lana's sign

WAYS THE SM

'T YOU CHECK

meared like a

hovel's in

r. For half a heartbeat, her pupils dilated to

lights

he mirror showed only

methin

fingerprints smudging the surface. Too large to

uzzed- a ne

a whisper that wasn't Lana's

e from your building, darl

click. The li

ood turn

ld anyone abo

en the