Chapter 20
CHAPTER 20
I n the end, June made supper for her family. Aiden didn’t mind. It wasn’t as if they were real newlyweds, dying to be alone. And although it should be awkward to be in this new situation with a stranger, somehow it wasn’t.
They cleaned the kitchen together, and then he was stuck. It was as if every time a task ran out, he felt himself sinking, felt his mind straying toward Erica and pain.
June, sensing as much, clapped her hands together, drawing his attention to her. “I think you know what it’s time for.”
He stared at her, taking in her artfully tousled silken hair, delicate features, and willowy frame. Somehow he didn’t think his hopes and expectations for what was about to come out of her mouth would align. So instead of entrapping himself with an answer, he quirked an eyebrow in question, watching her lips intently as she spoke. “Blanket fort.”
He blinked a couple of times, snapping himself out of his hope-drenched trance. “Blanket fort?” The words floated free as if untethered from meaning. For him, they had none. He hadn’t made a fort since he and his sisters were kids.
June nodded and reached for his hand. “Come with me.” She led him upstairs to the monster room, AKA his bedroom, and stood him in its center, letting go to retrieve a pile of blankets she mysteriously had stashed somewhere. “My dad,” she explained. Had she asked her father to bring a pile of blankets expressly for fort building? If so, he probably hadn’t thought a thing of it. It was a very June thing to request. Please bring my toiletries, the table from the basement, and a pile of blankets for forts. He could picture her father, giant paw gripping a pencil as he scribbled the list. He wouldn’t bat a lash at the blanket request.
They made a fort out of the nightmare bed, draping blankets over the four posters and protruding gargoyles.
“This bed was made for forts,” June muttered approvingly.
“This bed was made to drag souls to the afterlife,” Aiden returned, smiling when June burst into a fit of giggles and shook her head.
After the fort was assembled, June walked around it, tidying corners, blocking the light. When it finally met with her approval, they eased inside, finding comfort in the hidden darkness. Now what? Aiden wondered, but he didn’t have to wait long to find out. June pulled out her phone and, without asking, pulled up a Disney movie, Mulan, to be exact. They stretched out together sideways along the bed, shoulders touching, and watched the movie on her tiny screen and it was somehow so perfect it almost hurt. Maybe it was because he knew the moment would soon be over and he would be left to face his pain alone. Maybe it was something else, something he couldn’t yet articulate. Whatever the reason, it felt the same as it had before, as if something long and sharp was poking his soul, bringing an almost unbearable mix of pleasure and pain.
When June opened her mouth and began to loudly belt the song about turning untrained boys into soldiers, the feeling tipped solidly into pleasure. Aiden gave up the pretense of watching the cartoon and watched her instead, face alight with delight.
“You like to sing, huh?” he asked, realizing as he said it that she had been humming almost constantly under her breath the last few days.
“Music is non-negotiable,” she said, jutting a finger at him in what might have been a threatening manner, if she weren’t so adorable.
“You should have warned me before. I definitely wouldn’t have fake married you,” he said.
She set her phone on the bed and rolled toward him, propping her hand under her cheek. “You would have walked away? Left me there, twisting in the wind, even though I had a gigantic dowry and everything?”
He pillowed his cheek on his hand, facing her. Some little hairs had sprung free and were now framing her face. She looked like a Victorian painting, come to life. Except she was smiling. Every time he closed his eyes and thought of June, she was smiling. “For sure. You’re so…” his finger reached out and gently touched the delicate little wisps. He was originally going to say she was repulsive, but he couldn’t, not even in jest. So the words hovered between them, heavy and awkward as his finger softly traced her face.
June didn’t seem to notice the awkwardness, thankfully. She closed her eyes, tipping closer. “That feels so good. Magic Doctor Fingers.”
“Score, married two days and I have a new nickname,” he said.
Her smile turned sleepy. She yawned once, and then she was out. Aiden lay awake for a long time, staring at June, blinking sleepily and feeling…what? He had no idea, but as long as it was something besides pain, he was happy to keep going. Eventually he drifted to sleep, after a yawn of his own, one of June’s curls still coiled around his finger.
A s with the previous day, Aiden woke first. He stared at June, heart thumping with…what? What was that feeling, and why couldn’t he put a name to it? There was attraction, certainly. Anyone in his right mind couldn’t help that. But there was something more, something undefined. Gratitude? June opened her eyes before he could decide.
She seemed to find nothing unusual in the fact that he stared at her like a love-starved stalker. “I have to go to work,” she murmured.
Aiden couldn’t help it, he groaned. June nestled closer, snuggling, her head on his chest. His arms eased around her, anchoring her against him. He couldn’t actually keep her there, but he wanted to. The thought of her leaving, of being alone all day, filled him with a potent mix of panic and dread. How would he survive without his salvation?
“I could call off,” June offered, and Aiden sobered. She wasn’t his security blanket. She had a life and a job, one he’d stolen her away from.
“It’s going to be fine. But I’ll miss you.” He swallowed hard, feeling embarrassed. It was the sort of confession that tipped from his early morning addled brain. If he’d been in full control of his emotions, he wouldn’t have displayed his blatant need for her. Probably.
June, as usual, saw nothing amiss in the confession. She slid both arms around him and hugged him tightly in return. “Same.”
He wondered if that was true. She couldn’t possibly need him as much as he needed her. She was the little kid with her finger in the dam, all that stood between him and emotional annihilation. What was he to her? Certainly nothing that could compare. But they were friends, and they had formed a more definitive bond the last few days, trapped in their current nightmare together as they now were.
“I need to grab a shower before I go,” June said. She eased up and kissed him, a perfunctory smattering of affection that took them both by surprise, probably for different reasons. For Aiden, it was the fact that she made the first move. She hovered over him as they froze, staring at each other. Slowly his hand reached up and cupped her face, drawing her closer. She closed her eyes, leaned in, and then she was gone.
Aiden opened his eyes, looking back and forth on the empty bed. “June?”
Her disembodied voice spoke from somewhere nearby. “Fell off the bed.”
“Sorry.”
“My bad. I’m going to get in the shower before one or both of us dies.” The blanket fort was still intact, so he couldn’t see her hop up and scurry away, but he assumed that was what she did. He remained, staring at the cave-like atmosphere of his bed space. A perfect metaphor for my soul, he thought. An entire day without June. How would he survive?
He couldn’t hear June leave the shower, but when he guessed enough time had passed, he dragged himself out of his shelter and went downstairs.
June was already in the kitchen, bustling like a 1950’s housewife. She had made coffee. She poured him a cup and patted his shoulder as she set it before him at the table. Aiden wrapped both hands around the mug and watched her bustle, the sight of her as soothing as ever. She checked the clock and frowned slightly.
“Today is jammed for me, I don’t think I’ll be able to make it home for lunch.” She paused and bit her lip, studying him with a worried frown.
“I’ll be fine,” he assured her.
“Really?”
“I’ll stay alive,” he amended.
“That makes one of us,” she said, tipping her mug toward him with a little wink. She checked the clock again and grabbed her workbag. Aiden reached out and snagged her, drawing her close for a quick hug.
“Have a good day, June.”
“Hey.” She cupped his face in her hands, tipping it toward hers. “It’s time. Don’t be scared, you’ve got this. Lean into it.”
His heart lubbed with something that felt a whole lot like fear, but he mustered a smile and gave a little nod. She kissed the top of his head and left the house.
Aiden drained his coffee, looked at the massive piles of boxes that needed to be unpacked, and went back upstairs to his gargoyle fort.