Page 27 of Infinity Chronicles 2
Milo shuffles his feetlike he doesn’t know what to do. “Thank you for helping cover my shift Milo.” He looks up at me then, his blue eyes watching me.
After a long second he nods. “No problem, it was nice to see Gran and Gus.” He’s here and talking, but something feels off.
“Oh, good.” I fold my arms over my stomach and look away from him. Maybe he’s mad at me for the Ares situation. There’s a distance between us and remembering this morning in the car, I turn to face Ares.
“Gloria knew about us.” It’s not a question.
“Yeah,” Ares answers anyway.
“Well if she knows, and Maggie knows, why can’t we tell Milo’s parents?” My eyes moveover to Milo, who had finally made his way into the room. His steps halt and he turns to look at me with an expression of downright shock on his face.
Ares's head follows my line of sight. “I guess we could tell all our parents.” Ares holds up his hand when Ollie makes a whooping sound. “But we need to make sure they understand that this isn’t something we can celebrate.” My neck snaps in his direction. Ares sighs and corrects, “I didn’t mean it like that. I meant that they need to keep the information to themselves… for now.”
Milo’s face is split into a wide grin when I turn to face him again. His eyes bouncing around between all of us. “Do you want to call your parents?” I question, happy that Milo’s spirits seem to have lifted, but nervous about what it might mean.
“They’re picking me up tomorrow, we can tell them then.” Butterflies assault my stomach. Dante rubs his hand over my thigh and I wonder if he knows how freaked out I am. “We can all go to Columbia tomorrow. I only have two tickets for the banquet, but we can hang out before and after,” Milo continues, his voice laced with excitement.
I plaster a smile on my face, but on the inside my thoughts are spiraling out of control. I have to meet his parents tomorrow, and eventuallyI’ll have to meet Ollie’s parents, and Dante and Ares’s. What if they don’t like me, what if they think I’m not good enough?Clearly, we don’t have the same backgrounds—I didn’t even know about the existence of Infinites until I met them.
I slide my butt lower on the bed and fall backwards, how the hell am I going to make it through this? What will they think about there being five of us? Dante told me that there aren’t any other pairings that have as many aswe do. Using my inner elbow, I cover my eyes as I fight off the headache that is settling over the bridge of my nose.
The guys all continue talking about the weekend. Ares agrees easily to go, even saying it would probably be best to get away for a few days, especially after everything that happened with Mia tonight.
I block them out soon after. There isn’t anything tobe done about meeting their families. It’s something I knew would happen eventually, Ijusthadn’t realized how comfortable I’d gotten with the idea of pushing the prospect off to a much later date.
Dante cuddles up to my side soon after, his face wiggling under my arm so he’s nuzzling his face next to mine. I let out a weighty sigh and my fingers brush along his hair, reminding me of the tiger he turned into just yesterday. I stroke behind his ear and he arches into my touch. “What does it feel like when you change?” My voice is soft.
Dante pauses his movements. “I still feel like me, but just a more basic me. My thoughts are simpler, but they're still my thoughts.”I nod, thatsounds good aboutright now,I’d love tobe able tolet my insecurities go.
“Does it hurt when you change?” I know my questions might beintrusive, but I can’t seem to help myself either.
Dante doesn’t seem to mind as he settles in closer to me. Turning on his side so his mouth is near my ear, he wraps his arm around my waist. It feels like we’re having an intimate conversation, even though we aren’t alone. “No, it doesn’t hurt. When I’m about to change I get this restlessness. Like I can feel the fur under my skin.”
I turn to face him, our noses inches from each other. “Do you know, once when you touched me, before all this, I thought I felt fur? We were in art class,” I pause, my eyes going to the thick leather strap he wears around his wrist. My fingers go to thelittle bit of uncovered darkness I can see. I peer back up at him. “I remember seeing this, I wanted to know what was under here so badly that I almost couldn’t stop myself from touching you.”
Dante’s eyes close, and when they reopen the amber of his eyes has gotten brighter. I let my fingers dance along his arm, but I can’t stay away from the mark we all share for long. My fingers itch to explore it. The bed shifts as the others move about, getting comfortable. I don’t take my eyes off Dante. “Why do you hide this?”
Dante shrugs. “I don’t know, I guess it’s becauseeveryone else’s marks are covered, it feels private. Like it’s not for everyone.”
“What about me?” My question is bold, but I can’t take it back. “Is it for me?” I pull the closure of the band, loosening it before he even answers.
Dante swallows and his eyes are wide. “Yes, yours.” His voice is gravely. I strip away the thick band as I keep my eyes locked on his. My palm covers his mark. Dante’s eyes fall closed again before he snaps them open and his lips part. A heady sense of power fills me, not the power of Dante sharing his abilities with me, it’s more like I have a power over him, like he would never tell me no, not to anything.
Bringing his wrist up, I kiss his mark and Dante gasps, his eyes blown wide. I place his hand down right between us and inch closer to him, so he’s tucked into my body. Wrapping my arm over his back, I cuddle him closeand let my eyes fall closed. It’s barely ten o’clock on a Friday, but I’m exhausted. I don’t have the energy left to worry about tomorrow and what new challenges it might bring.
Chapter 10
“Can you grab memore eggs?” I peer over my shoulder, Dante and Milo are both in the kitchen with me. Ares and Ollie were still sleeping when I got up, but Milo was already awake and showered. My stirring woke Dante, so Idecided to make us all breakfast. I’m not great in the kitchen, I’ve never had the seemingly limitless supplies that come along with the Costa house, but making the basics is easy enough.
Milo shuffles over with a new carton of eggs in hand. Stepping up close, he looks over my shoulder as I crack a few more eggs into the large mixing bowl. After a dash of pepper and a big pinch of salt, I push the bowl aside. “What time are we meeting your parents?” Dante asks, his tone light, and why shouldn’t it be? Hedoesn’t have any reason to be freaking out, it’s not like he’ll be the one meeting them for the first time today.
The spatula slips from my fingers, clanging on the counter. “Sorry,” I mutter, more to myself, before nabbing it back up to turn over the round sausage patties in the skillet on the stove.
“They’ll be here around noon,” Milo answers as he walks back over to the island and takes a seat next to Dante.
My eyes leap to the digital clock on the microwave—that’s only in a few hours. I still need to shower and figure out what to wear. I take a calming breath, blowing it out unnecessarily slow. I clear my throat, hoping all my doubts and insecurities won’t be obvious. “Are we coming back tonight?”
“That was the plan, but I’m not sure now. What do you think?” I expect to hear Dante answer, but he doesn’t. I turn to face Milo, realizing that his questionisdirected at me.
