She sits up and leans her elbow on the table, giving me her full attention as I continue. “I swear I felt his heartbeat as if it were my own.A moment, Vix, one fucking moment from a guy I barely met, has consumed me. I knew where we were, but I didn’t fucking care. I didn’t care if Jasper showed up. I didn’t care if I was taken in that moment. Nothing else mattered other than feeling Zayne. Jesus, who the fuck falls for someone this fast?” I huff, pouring out my confession.
“Sounds like a good time, so what happened that made you run out of there?” she asks.
The high from the memory crashes down around me as the reality of the aftermath sets in. Knowing she will not let up about this, I start to confess to what happened.
“When we switched back here, we were still swaying to the music like we were when we shifted,” I say softly.
Picking at her muffin, she just casually says, “That’s excepted—your souls shift to Aetheriem, not your physical bodies.”
I stare at her pointedly. Realizing what she’d said, a brief look of panic flits across her features before settling back to her normal resting bitch face.
“How do you know that?” I whisper, leaning over the table toward her.
“Knox told me.” She shrugs, playing it off like it’s no big deal.
Keeping this new information tucked away, I make a mental note to ask what else Knox has told her. We will definitely be circling back to that. For now, I reluctantly continue.
“He backed away from me, his face full of regret, like he didn’t mean for it to go that far.” Pausing for a moment, I remember the look in his eyes, and the shattered parts of me thatfell to the floor as I walked away. I lean back in my chair, and my shoulders sag in defeat.
“I don’t know. I mean, I really thought it meant something. You know me, Vix, I’m not sticking around for the rejection, so I cut him off before he could finish his sentence. That’s when you saw me,” I go back to picking the sticker on my coffee.
Her hand covers mine, and I look up at her.
“What a dick,” she says.
“Yeah, but…” I hesitate.
“But? But what?” she says.
“Last night, while I was sleeping, he came into my room. I’d had a nightmare about Nik, and he woke me up. I was wound up from the dream, afraid that maybe the moment would provide an opportunity for Jasper to show his face. I was too exhausted from earlier to deal with that, so I asked Zayne to stay. And he did. He laid on the bed, holding me till I went back to sleep.” I’m more confused by every word I mutter.
She pulls back and studies me with a frown. Shaking her head, she sits there for a moment. “Wait, what?” she finally asks.
“Right, like what the hell?” I say, just as confused by this whole situation. I don’t get it, the mixed signals are baffling. “Maybe he just wants to be friends? Arghhhh”, I growl in frustration, putting my hands over my face as I lean on the table.
“Vix, it was so good.” Brushing my fingers across my lips at the memory, I look around, making sure no one is paying attention to what I’m saying. Dramatically, I grab her arm, and she just looks at me.
“He had me pinned up against a wall, and everything about his body language screamed more than friends, but maybe that’s all we can be.” My shoulders droop as I let go of her and drop my head in my arms.
She leans forward, giving me a soothing pat on my arm. I look back up at her, and she just smiles. She’s right, she is not the greatest at reassurances.
“Do you think that’s all he wants?” she asks.
“I don’t know,” I say, defeated.
“Now I’m living with him until this whole Jasper thing is taken care of. It's just really fucked up.I snuck out this morning while he was still sleeping…in my bed,” I stress, still in disbelief.
“Look, now you know the truth about who you are, who they are, and the crazy that’s going on in that other realm. Maybe right now, it’s for the best,” she sympathizes.
And as much as I want to protest, I know she’s right. I need to free my sister from Jasper. The question is, how?
“Yeah, I suppose you're right,” I pout.
Just then, Vix quirks a smile and says, “Don’t look, but your knight in shining armor just walked in.”
I freeze, refusing to let my eyes search the coffee shop for him.
“Oh God, what’s he doing?” I ask nervously.
