Equal Parts by Emma Winters Read Free Book Online

bit of a drifter.”
    “Then it’s lucky you don’t know me at all,” I reminded him. Flick . I’d never had a nickname before, and it was so, so wrong that the first one I received was from a homicidal maniac.
    Stuffing the cards back in random pockets, he pulled out the more personal touches.
    “Well, well,” he commented as his long fingers went through photos of my mom and dad, a packet of painkillers, appointment cards, and – most embarrassingly – a condom wrapper. I felt my cheeks burn bright red. “Somebody’s taking the Boy Scout motto a little too literally.”
    “Shut up,” I grumbled, though I didn’t know why. Achilles certainly wasn’t the kind of man to appreciate being told to shut up, especially by someone like me.
    He just laughed, though. “You’re fun.” Taking special care with the cause of his amusement, he slid the things back in my wallet and handed it to me. “See? I’m a man of my word.”
    “You’re also a psychopathic murderer,” I told him.
    He blinked those huge, fathomless eyes at me. “If you’re referring to the man I just killed, let me remind you that had I not done what I did, you would be, at best, violated with half your brains hanging out. Would you be calling it murder if Finn Cole had done the same thing?”
    “Finn Cole didn’t abduct me and keep me starved and mistreated,” I retorted heatedly.
    “That isn’t an answer.”
    “It’s the only answer you’ll get until I have a shower.”
    “You sure you want to request that? The only showers are group ones in the change-rooms.” The evil grin was back in full-force.
    “Fine, then I’ll settle for wet wipes. You aren’t going to get whatever it is you want from me if you insist on treating me like a dog.” My chin stuck itself out of its own accord, another gesture those ebony eyes caught.
    “Me-ow. Where did this sudden defiance come from? I was under the impression death didn’t scare you, if the gazebo and hospital incidents were anything to go by,” he said. I couldn’t tell if it was sarcasm or not.
    “I’m only defiant around you, it seems,” I muttered, but I knew he heard. It was the truth. I was usually a complacent person, passive to the point of a doormat. But Achilles was … different. Like it or not, something about him made me want to stand up for myself for once. He made me confident, and it was terrifying. “And death scares everybody. Some people are just better at hiding it.”
    Silence fell once more. He absentmindedly unlaced my sneakers and dropped them to the floor. Of course today had to be a mismatched-socks day. Not that I cared what he thought of them.
    “I would very much like, Flick darling, to know how your power works. Whatever you did to me in the hospital was just short of a miracle, and now that I have you, I don’t plan on giving you up.”
    I expected as much. “So you’ll, what? Suck me dry of my power and be the happiest guy to aim for world domination? I can only give you the feeling – I can’t make the world see you in a particular way, or boost you up the social ladder.”
    “World domination? Imaginative, darling, but a bit off-target. Is it so wrong for a guy to want a bit of excitement added to the daily grind?”
    “It is when the ‘guy’ in question is you . Besides, you won’t get much out of me at the moment. Once I’m dried up, I can guess how useful I’ll be to you.” There was another, much bigger reason I was never going to give Achilles a larger dose of sunshine, but that story was buried in the deepest, darkest corner of my mind.
    Setting my feet back on the bed, he crawled up to me, sending me scrambling back against the wall. When his face was a good five inches away from mine, he said, in a deadly tone, “Then I suppose it’s imperative that you find it in your heart to help me out. For both our sakes, I hope you don’t dry out too soon. I think it would be of great benefit to everyone if you kept me happy. ” He