Chapter 48
Aiden didn’t reach back.
The angel faded away.
Aiden dropped to his knees, then to all fours on the cold floor of Tanner’s room, with his head on his bent forearm and both his hands in fists. He pounded the floor a few times, viciously thankful for each painful jolt that ran up his arm.
He thought it would hurt physically, losing his angel. Like losing a limb. But there was nothing, which was even worse. He felt like he’d ripped his own soul out—shouldn’t that hurt in his body, too? Shouldn’t he at least feel something? Even his heart had stopped hurting. It was shattered, but it didn’t hurt anymore.
He wanted it to hurt.
Aiden hit the floor again and again, his grin sharp and feral at the short blasts of pain. Maybe he could break his fingers. That would—
“Aiden?”
Aiden aborted his next strike, flattened his palm on the floorboards, and pushed himself back to his knees. He wiped his eyes. “Yeah?”