The Photo Said I Must Die novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: The Door Between

The room was small and dark and smelled like rain.

There was one candle on the nightstand and a narrow bed.

There was also a door in the wall that I was trying very hard not to look at.

I lay on top of the quilt in my damp clothes and listened to the storm hit the glass.

On the other side of the door, I could hear him moving.

A drawer, a floorboard, a long breath out.

I had told myself for an hour that I was furious with him, and I was.

I was also lying here counting his footsteps.

At midnight a branch hit the window so hard that I sat up.

The footsteps stopped.

I got off the bed and crossed the room in my socks and put my good hand flat against the door.

"Judd."

"I'm here," he said, from right behind the wood.

He had been standing there too.

"I'm still angry at you," I said.

"You should be."

"You kept it from me."

"I know."

"If you ever keep anything from me again, I'm gone, and I'm not coming back to listen to why."

"Understood."

I took the key from the nightstand and turned it, and the door swung inward.

He stood in the dark in jeans and a gray T-shirt, with one hand still raised to knock.

The candle lit half his face.

He looked wrecked, and he looked at me and did not look away.

"The rule," I said. "Before the ninth. It's stupid."

"You made it."

"I know I did."

"Dani." His voice was low and rough. "If you're doing this because you're angry or scared, tell me, and I'll go and sit in the hall."

"I'm scared," I said. "And angry."

"And I've wanted your hands on me since you pulled me off that rail, so shut up and kiss me."

He crossed the room in two steps.

He kissed me so hard that my back hit the wall.

His hand was in my hair and the other was spread across my ribs.

His mouth was hot and rough and tasted like salt.

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