Prey

Chapter 89

Doe's POV:

Today was one of the warmer days of this winter.

Warm enough to where I could keep my jacket unzipped and be completely fine.

Xander had taken us to the more eastern part of the city. The one that holds a variety of nature paths and parks, dotted with cart vendors every so often selling food or other goods.

He said he was leading me somewhere for lunch.

There weren't too many people that we crossed paths with, but when we did, the looks I got were the same ones that I was used to.

The ones that blatantly showed that I knew what I was.

It was a variety at least, ranging from pity to disgust, but each one made me feel the exact same.

Those looks had always slightly bothered me, but today it was just... different.

It made one of the topics of conversation from last night tug itself back to the front of my brain.

The one that I intentionally shoved back there since I didn't want to think about it.

And he said that it was only hypothetical.

But if it becomes something that isn't...

If he truly goes through with fabricating a citizenship for me and setting me up for a completely different way of living.

I wasn't too fond of the idea, to begin with, but I didn't know for sure what that dislike was coming from.

Whether it was just the fear of the unknown, nerves from such a change of pace, the haunting knowledge that Xander might just return back to stay with Nico, or something else.

Or even a mix of everything.

The fact that he hesitated once I asked him if he would leave to stay with his brother did help a small amount.

I was expecting that answer to come immediately to him and not to be in favor of me.

As just a thought, the offer sounded nice.

My own place, my life to build as I desired from scratch in a place that knew nothing about my past. A chance to start over.

It was undoubtedly something many people would love nothing more than to have, but that wasn't a way of living I knew how to do quite yet.

It wasn't an environment I had grown up to know, and I knew that he was aware of that.

And I didn't just want to "start over' after everything it took to finally get to this point.

Not like that anyway.

I didn't even know if I could given how with just a glance, these people knew my entire background.

I lightly rubbed the skin that had begun to tingle at the base of my neck. Directly where I knew for a fact a hickey laid covered beneath.

Which then sent my brain spiraling down that path, stirring up a twist in my stomach along with it.

There was so much I still wanted to figure out before anything else.

I still wanted to discover things in the life I was living now before moving on to a different one, and I wanted him here with me as I did.

Things were just easier when he was around.

Well, some things. Others just became a whole lot more complicated.

Given that now various other spots on my neck were now tingling.

Almost itching, and trying to fix that myself wasn't working.