Page 34 of Regal Feather
He was perfect.
“Hey,” I whispered.
My heart raced. It was a stupid greeting, wasn’t it? I could’ve just said good morning. Or gone beneath the covers to give him a more proper wakeup.
That seemed scary, though. Not something I could ever do unprompted.
“You think too loud.”
“I don’t.”
I totally did.
Santos stretched more properly, letting out more of that grumbling sound that sent shivers down my spine, before he turned again to face me. His hand fell on my hip. I pretended I wasn’t holding my breath.
“My parents are coming next week, I think. They called.”
Santos hummed. “That’s fine.”
Was it?
Well, he’d always liked them more than I did. Probably because they had always seen him as the golden child. I didn’t know if it was that halo effect because of the blue eyes and blonde hair, or he’d always portrayed as a man better than I could, but through it all, they’d always had more positive things to say about him than they did me. Even when his family all but banned us from spending time together, and mine accepted it and even pretended they had a point, Santos had still been placed on a pedestal.
I’d love to say otherwise, but I’d resented him at times. Resented my parents, too, but…
“I don’t know what they know.”
Santos tensed right away. I shrank.
“Can we not? Please.”
“Okay.”
I’d just get out of bed. I had to hit the bathroom, anyway. If I went before him, I could be the one to make breakfast. I had this theory that he thought I couldn’t fend for myself just becausemy fridge had been a mess when he’d arrived, but I could cook breakfast.
Yeah.
I’d just focus on him and pretend that everything was fine. Between us. Within me.
Nothing to see here.
“How are you doing, Ever?”
Uh?
What was I just thinking?
Pretending everything was fine didn’t go together with him asking how I was doing over the stupid breakfast table while he ate the mug muffins I’d made like they were a delicacy instead of the one thing I wasn’t too nervous to fuck up.
The contents of the fridge might have been more lacking than I’d thought when Santos had first teased me about it.
“Uh, good.” I swallowed through my bite of fluffy muffin. “I’m good. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“You had that thing with your Dom.” I hated how slowly he spoke, as if he didn’t want to spook me. “Has he reached out since?”
“Yeah.”
I hadn’t read what he had to say or picked up his calls, which meant the longer it passed without me doing it, the more likely it was that he’d put an end to everything.
