Masked

Killian

“You two are adorable together!” Penny had exclaimed.

I’d chickened out when she implied we were a couple. Killing a man with my bare hands? Manageable. Confessing feelings for a girl?

You’re a goddamn yellow-bellied coward, Killian Ricci, I’d snarled at myself when I saw the unadulterated joy on Sera’s face shatter like glass. Glass that cut me as deep as regret.

She’d stormed off to the attic with Penny. I had shot myself in the foot big time.

Just when I had never been happier. Ever.

Tommaso, Adrian, and I managed to get the tree in the foyer and worked it into the stand that hadn’t been used for years. I knew there was a tree skirt somewhere in the attic. Hopefully, Sera or Penny could find it.

Adrian went on his way. Tommaso clapped a hand on my shoulder. “You fucked up, Bossman.”

My face was half-numb with cold. I scrubbed at my cheeks, and my palms stung, scraped up with thin slices from the pine needles. I needed a whole month in quarantine to heal all the wounds I’d r