Page 89 of The Monster I Am
Soph grins. “Will you hold it against me if I smother your boyfriend?”
“Which one?” I tease.
“Touché, sister. But I have no issue with Rylan and Hunter. They can live—for now.”
I bring my hand to my chest, gawking at her with dramatic awe. “Sophia Beckett. I think I’m rubbing off on you. I’m loving this murderous side. Marry me?”
“Of course!” She beams. “But you have to let me choose your dress. I don’t make the rules.”
My nose wrinkles. “No pastels, okay? But hey—speaking of which. Fancy dying my hair?”
I’m granted exile a few hours later, Soph gushing over her artistic creation. I almost want to die at the state of her bathroom, the gray and gold tiles splattered with blue and purple hair coloring.
It was one hell of a process. We had to strip back the pink sections we did for the dance to be able to put the blue through. After sizzling our nose hairs with the smell of bleach, she layered chunky streaks through my purple hair, blending the two colors together. I’m definitely more on the dark blue side now, and after Soph sent a picture to Abby, she sent me down the hallway to show Tai.
I’m not entirely convinced it’s for the sole benefit of showcasing her work. I could see her eyeing off the Kindle hungrily. But we’ll just pretend for her sake.
Not bothering to knock, I creep into Tai’s room slowly. My eyes search his computer first, bewildered that it’s turned off.
Scanning the room, he’s nowhere to be seen at first, but then I hear a door open before Tai enters from his adjoining en suite.
Holy mother of freshly baked cookies.
Tai pauses his tracks when he spots me, chest glistening with droplets of water. A towel hangs snugly from his bare waist and for a moment, I forget how to breathe.
“Well, look at you,” he smirks, taking note of my hair. “A vision in blue. My favorite color.”
Of course it is.
“Look atyou,” I mumble unintelligently. “All… showered.”
Tai glances down at his barely dressed torso. “If I had known you were going to make an appearance, I’d have waited.”
“No, no,” I quickly interject. “This is acceptable.”
“Bexley,” he says in an almost serious tone. “My eyes are up here.” He motions his index and middle fingers toward his face.
I nod slowly. “Oh, trust me. I’m aware. And no—I don’t care.”
Laughing, Tai strolls over, pulling me flush against his body. My own fires up at our closely pressed torsos and I have to bite back a tiny, happy giggle.
Argh. Who even am I anymore?
“I love it,” he murmurs, bringing his face to my hair. “Really brings out the green in your eyes.”
“Are you actually looking at my eyes?” I ask jokingly.
I feel him smirk against my head. “Nope.”
Dammit. He smells really good. I might have to sneak into his shower later to claim whatever soap he uses. Well, sneak is an overkill. Something tells me he won’t mind at all.
I start scanning the room to try to focus on something before I completely lose control from all the wet muscles and delicious scented body wash. As I reach the bed, I go to skip it, clearly testing temptation, but to my surprise, I actually find a distraction.
“Is that a teddy bear?” I mumble.
Tai pulls back slightly, glancing over at the stuffed toy with me. “Yep. That’s Poppins. I’ve been a little in my feels today.”
“He’s adorable,” I say, a little stunned. “Do you wanna chat about these feels?”
