Arianna couldn’t look at him, het grøn dating everywhere except his fire.
smpletely empty as she wriggled in of his embrare and practically printed at the sing room.
The next several, Jayd
ly at Osange, who was dead to the world in his lule bed.
Facing his expectant stare, she printed dramatically
“What relationship? We’re business partnerst
“Co-parenting range together
Jayden burst
langbing, his heart doing something complicated between frustration and complete adoration. Getting this woman to admit they were dating as going to be like pulling teeth.
“Alright, fine,” he said, throwing his hands up in mock defeat. “Whatever you say, business partner”
After their ridiculous banter, Jayden scrolled through Netflix and settled on Inception. He pulled Arianna down onto the cooch beside him, wrapping them both in the throw blanket
Just as the opening credits started, Orange stirred from his nap, stumbled over to Arianna with sleepy determination, and collared in her lap like he owned the place.
“God, kittens really do sleep like twisty hours a day,” she whispered, gently stroking his tiny orange head.
Jayden pulled both of them closer, his chest to full of contentment it almost hurt. This moment folt impossibly perfect–too perfect maybe
As the move progressed and Dom Cably got lost deeper in his dream layers, Jayden found himself unconsciously tightening has grip on Arianna.
She must have felt his tension because she tilted her head back to look at him. “You okay? You’re holding me like I might disappear.
Ha voice came out rougher than he intended. “Do you ever think about what the guy in this movie is going through?”
“What do you mean?”
“Like what if we’re stuck in some dream and we don’t even know it? The words tumbled out before he could stop them, carrying all the fear he’d been trying to suppress “What if none of this is real?”
The question had been eating him alive for days. This happiness, this second chance–it felt too good to be true. After ten years of believing she was dead, having her here, alive and choosing him, seemed imposible.
Arianna terred fully in his arms, her brown eyes serious and unwavering. This is real, Jayden. We’re real”
But something flickered across her face–doubt? sadness?-before she added quickly, “And even if it was a dream…‘d rather be here with you than anywhere else.”
The words should have comforted him, but they made his stomach twist with unease instead. There was something in her tone, something final about the way she said it.
“Shit, Listen to me getting all existential,” he said, forcing a laugh that sounded hollow even to his own ears. “Sorry, I don’t know where that came
frum
“Don’t apologize,”
(” she said softly, her band finding his “I get it. Sometimes good things feel too good to be true.”
She turned back to the movie, but Jayden could’t concentrate anymore. He kept watching her profile in the flickering light from the TV, memorizing the curve of her check, the way her eyelashes cast shadows
By the time the credits rolled, both Arianna And Orange had fallen asleep against him. She was curled into his side like she belonged there, her breathing deep and peaceful
Jayden carefully gathered them both up his heart clenching at how light she felt in his arms. He managed to get her settled in bed without waking her, Drange immediately claiming the pillow next to hers
He stood there for a long time, just watching her sleep, his chest tight with something between love and terror
12:00
Almost in Love with Your Before That Cruel Summer Took Everything
“Please be real,” he whispered, hrushing a strand of hair from ber fare. “Please don’t leav
Hours later, the house was tomb quiet warept for the dim light bleeding from his study. Jayden stood the window, a between his fingers paha mared cot at the empty stree
He was no lost in his spiraling thoughts that he didn’t hear the soft footsteps behind him.
“Can’t sleep?”
He spun around to find Arianna in the doorway, her hair muted from sleep, squinting at him in the low light.
“Tack, sorry,” he said, quickly stubbing out the cigarette. “Did I wake you up?”
She shook her head, padding barefoot across the hardwood floor. “I woke up and you weren’t there. I got scared.”
The simple admission made his heart stutter. She’d noticed he was gone She’d come looking for him,
“You’re smoking again,” she said quietly, and there was something heartbroken in her voice that made him want to flush every pack he owned down the toilet
“Yeah,” he admitted, running a hand through his hair. “It’s a shitty babit. I know you hate it.”
“I don’t hate it,” she said, surprising him. “I just.. I worry about you. About what’s going on in your head when you need a cigarette at two in the
God, she could still read him like an open book after all these years. See straight through every wall he tried to build.
“Come back to bed,” she said softly, reaching for his hand. “Please? I sleep better when you’re there”
The vulnerability in her voice nearly destroyed him.
“I probably reek of smoke,” he said, even as he let her intertwine their fingers
“I don’t care.”
She led ham toward the bedroom, but stopped at the doorway, turning to face him with something determined in her expression.
“Jayden,” she said, her voice soft but resolute. “Let’s sleep together tonight.”
