"I know." He lowers Neil's hand but doesn't let go, and again the double helix becomes a spiral. This is right. This is the way things should be. None of what he'd said about meeting again in some other life is bullshit, because here they are.

And then he's braced over Neil's body, shoving him into the mattress with a kind of viciousness that seems to stab up out of his core. Hurting him. Wanting to hurt him worse.

I need you to know.

"Do you trust me?" he whispers. "It's okay if you don't."