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Augustus wound his arm around Christine’s waist and planted a kiss on her temple. I could feel the jealousy bubbling up inside of me and had to fight the urge to rip his arm off. “We’ll take the master bedroom,” Augustus declared.
My mother’s eyes narrowed as she studied Augustus. She had a begrudging fondness for him, but she always felt that he was too entitled, and I would agree with her. Despite her disapproval, she never vocalized her thoughts that Christine was too good for him.
“Okay,” Christine replied, her voice quivering slightly in the silence.
“And I’ll take the room downstairs,” I jumped in, eager to change the direction of the conversation. I wanted access to the ground floor in case we needed to flee in a hurry.
“Okay, dear,” my mother said, patting my hand before turning to Atticus.
“I’ll stay in this room.” Atticus motioned to a bedroom across from theirs.
My mom surveyed all of us with a hard look before softening and squeezing my hand briefly. “You’re all probably exhausted. I’ll let you get settled,” she said with a slight smile before heading off to check on Daphne and allow us time to rest.
Once she was gone, Atticus closed the distance between him and Christine to give her a goodnight kiss. I had to squeeze my eyes shut so I didn’t punch him in the jaw. “Goodnight, Little Monster. Tomorrow, you’re in my bed.”
“Goodnight,” she whispered tenderly.
Augustus, Christine and I made our way to the master bedroom and opened the door. I could smell the ocean again. It was a spacious, beautiful bedroom with a stunning window. It overlooked the yard and beach, and I could see the rocky shore and the rippling water.
“I’m going to take a shower,” she said before eyeing me.
“Sounds good.” My lame response made me realize that maybe she wanted me to kiss her goodnight, too. Fuck, why did this have to be so hard?
Christine slipped into the bathroom and turned on the shower, likely eager for some space to process everything. She always needed moments alone with her thoughts when it all got too overwhelming.
“You can sleep in our bed if you’d like, Shadow,” Augustus whispered in my ear.
“I’d rather sleep on the beach,” I replied, deadpan.
He smirked. “Oh, so you only do group activities with Atticus then, hmm?”
I frowned, not wanting to hurt him. “I’ve cleaned up your vomit too many times,” I replied, my voice low and gruff. The memories of his wilder days still lingered in my thoughts, too vivid for me to forget.
Augustus pressed his palm to his chest and smirked again. “You’re not fucking me,” he said. “We’d be tag teaming.”
“You sound jealous,” I joked, trying to lighten the mood. But his gaze was still hard as he looked at me.
“Well, maybe I am,” he replied, his voice rising a little. “Am I not good enough? You watched me fuck plenty of women when I was at the royal academy.”
My cheeks flamed and I shook my head. “Those were faceless whores I had to watch to make sure they didn’t murder you. Why do you care?” Would I have watched him with Christine? a small voice whispered inside me, but I couldn’t bring myself to answer.
“So you admit it, you don’t want to tag team with me now?” He pouted a bit.
“So you admit it, you’re being ridiculous right now?” I said, echoing him sarcastically.
Augustus’s gaze sharpened, and then he yelled, “Stop answering me with questions.”
I raised my chin stubbornly in reply. “Stop getting mad at me,” I snapped back. We glared at each other for what felt like an eternity, and then both of us seemed to deflate at the same time—it was clear that neither of us wanted to fight.
“I’m sorry, Shadow,” Augustus said, sitting down on the bed. This apology surprised me. “This whole situation is fucking with me. I’m worried, you know? What if she decides she only wants threesomes, then I’m out of the running.”
“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” I replied, sitting down next to him and grabbing his shoulder. “To be honest, you’re handling it a lot better than I am.”
“I don’t feel like I am. I’m just… When I realized that Christine and I have a future together, my life changed.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“No, but…I don’t know, I’m still me.” He paused and started to look anxious. “I’m still a fuckup. Still the least responsible and tolerable person in the group. But I want to be more. I need to be more. Do you think she’ll want to keep being with me? What if I’m not enough?”
