WANTED by the GODDESS

een of his phone like it was a loaded gun. The balan

,95

ouched it.

ped the wrong account number. Or maybe it was a scam and the bank just hadn't ca

That mark.

godd

elf too rational, too grounded, too... broken for things like that. Life had never been

r who'd barely managed to afford rent a week ago - now sit

ometimes shimmered on his

anyone with this. Not because he was paranoid, but because he knew how the wor

. Not with affection, but ownership. Like she had c

per. Always

ion

. His apartment looked the same as ever - dim, quiet, lif

eet was still wet from the evening drizzle, glistening under the pale glow of the

looked...

ept

Inside hung the same three shirts and two pairs of jeans he always wore to

e it

es shaped like interlocking flames and stars, pulsing softly beneath his sk

ouch

Not painful, but powerful. Like somet

he door brok

shor

fro

p.m. Who could be kn

ock. Firme

pen up. I

x was the closest thing he had to family,

ned th

eans, carrying a plastic bag. His

k like you've

ave," Elio

ounter. "Got you fried chicken and fries. You

t feelin

? You look like someone who just found

ked but di

is you hit some kind of jackpot. You didn't show up, but suddenly

ed. "How do y

He was all smiles. Said you cleared your debt a

ed under h

eyes narrowing. "You wann

w," Elion sa

not an

ane. But lying to Jax wouldn't help. H

A woman... no, something mor

tell me you joined one of those s

. She touched me. And the next day, the money was there. From a

frowning. "That's n

That's th

le

aud, or some mystic sugar mommy. But if money like that shows up without a

slowly. He

that night, the dream return

closer. Her lips brushed hi

she whispered. "And I alw

e up g

e, the mark