@isobcllarojas
The presence of death still lingered around the home Izzy and Kane had made together. Adrian could feel it creep under his skin when he stepped inside the front door.
Kane’s downfall was a double edged sword that stabbed right into the heart of the town. And Adrian cut himself on both. On one, Kane was a terrifying monster who needed to die. His own nose had healed crooked from being slammed against the bathroom counter at the dive only a few months ago. And Iz? There was no way to know how many scars and mended bones he’d left behind with her. But, the other side cut him the deepest. Watching Izzy mourn Kane, alone in her feelings but not in her home, had awakened a new kind of fear in Adrian’s chest that had burned for days after. It scorched his insides until he tasted the blistered blood in his throat.
The fear of mortality was one that Adrian had wrestled with his entire life. He ran away from Chicago to get away from the ghosts only to find them just a breath away in his hometown.
But there was the smell of something else wafting through the house as Adrian tossed Ryder’s jacket on the couch. Something that almost overshadowed the rest of it all. He made his way back to the kitchen, half expecting to see Ryder hanging over the stove. He smiled to himself as he leaned against the doorframe with his arms folded over his chest. “What’s for lunch?” he asked as Izzy moved from the counter to the stove top. It was a relief to see her on her feet again after being in a near-catatonic state on the couch for so long. He slid further into the vaguely familiar kitchen. “Anything I can help with?” Never mind that Adrian was an absolute shit cook.