Chapter 17 #2
“I don’t think getting grown men to invite sixteen-year-old you into their trucks is a brag.”
“None of them touched me, so it was better than foster care.”
He grunted his agreement. Becoming aware of another presence, I looked over at where Amir stood outside of the bathroom, only halfway into his shirt.
From the wideness of his eyes, I assumed he’d heard something he found shocking.
I gave him a tight-lipped smile, not interested in some awkward exchange.
If dark humor made him uncomfortable, he could deal with that on his own.
“Good shower?” I asked.
He pulled his shirt on the rest of the way. “It was nice. I didn’t do it after the game.”
“Really? I thought you smelled lovely.”
He hummed his acknowledgement before he walked over to the bed. When he sat on the edge of it, the awkwardness of this situation set in.
“He has a sexy voice,” Oli said.
“Shut up. You have your own sexy man, so leave mine alone.”
“You don’t even want yours.”
“Not the point.”
“You’re such a liar. Let me talk to him.”
I snorted. “Why would I do that?”
“Because I want to. Please, Rem?” When I didn’t respond, he made a sound like he was pouting. “Please?”
“No, you can’t talk to him, you manipulative bastard. Listen to your elders.”
Amir stood, and as he came closer, I was torn between staying where I was and getting the hell away from him.
The scent of his soap was so strong that I couldn’t escape it, and it might’ve been what kept me frozen in place.
And it was what made me too slow to react when he plucked the phone away from me.
“Hey!” I shouted.
He held his finger up to his lips as he brought the phone to his ear. I stood, but he didn’t make a move to give it back.
“Who’s this?” he asked.
I couldn’t hear what Oli said, but Amir’s eyes glazed as he listened.
If I knew my best friend as well as I thought I did, he was probably giving him a pep talk about how to deal with my bullshit.
The joke was on Amir, though. Nobody could deal with me effectively except for Oli.
If he tried, I could always summon more bullshit.
Amir’s eyes landed on me, then moved away. There was a strange set to his lips, which I didn’t know how to interpret.
“I don’t understand what that means.”
“What’s he saying?” I demanded.
He pivoted to avoid me when I tried to go for the phone. “I think so . . . You seem cooler than him. If only you’d been manning the bar that night.”
If there weren’t other people in this apartment, I might’ve considered another high-speed chase. Not that the last one had gone well. Arguably, it had been what got us to this ridiculous back and forth state.
Amir laughed. “No, why? Okay, sure. I’ll check it out . . . Yeah, it was nice to meet you, Oli. I’ll make sure he stays out of trouble.”
I was tempted to roll my eyes, but I refrained. When he ended the call, he tossed the phone to the mattress.
“What did he say?”
He sat on the edge of the bed and stretched one arm behind his neck. “He asked if I’ve seen Attack on Titan.”
“Of course he did.” Hesitantly, I sat beside him but put as much distance between us as I could. “Have you?”
“Nah, I don’t watch much TV.”
“That’s healthy.”
“Do you? And before you ask, no, this isn’t a card question.”
“Sitting around watching TV makes me depressed. I’d rather game or work myself to death or go on an adventure.”
“What kind?”
I shrugged. “Anything that gets me out of the house. It’s annoying, but that thing they say about sunshine helping the shit in your head? Yeah, it’s legit.”
“What’s in your head that you’re trying to burn away?”
“Demons, soliloquies, odes to Odin’s mistakes—which is to say, all men.”
“Sometimes I wonder why I find you interesting, and then you say shit like that.”
“Oh, is that interesting? Try this one on.
I begged a god to notice me.
He said, ‘Fear not, you’re loud enough to see.’
So I asked what wisdom’s worth these days.
He said, ‘Your peace, your rest, and a dying world’s praise.’”
Amir turned toward me, so I did the same, tucking my leg underneath me.
“I don’t know if I’m supposed to laugh or tell you that’s profound,” he said.
“That’s the beauty of poetry. It can be all of the above.”
“Got any more?”
“Tons, but I won’t bore you with them right now.”
“Later, then.”
Not sure what to say, I pulled myself backward until I was at the top of the bed. He followed and tucked himself under the covers. Even though it went against my own words, I scooted closer to him. He froze when I wrapped my arm around his waist and rested my head on his chest.
“I don’t stay in strangers’ beds,” I murmured, “so you’ll have to keep pretending we’re dating.”
After a second, he slipped his arm behind me. His fingers trailed across my back and sent a shiver down my spine.
I pressed my nose against his chest and inhaled. “Gods, you smell divine.” With a groan, I continued upward, sniffing him like a dog. I reached his neck and nuzzled into it.
“Remi,” he said in a voice much grittier than before.
“Hmm?”
“You should stop.”
I returned my head to his chest, dipping my face enough so he wouldn’t see me smile. My eyes closed as I focused on getting myself to relax. I wasn’t kidding when I told him I didn’t sleep beside strangers, but I knew him well enough at this point that it didn’t really bother me.
“Oli said you’re the king of mixed signals.”
I breathed a laugh but didn’t respond.
“He also said that if you’re giving me mixed signals, I shouldn’t take anything you say at face value.”
My eyes opened, and I stared at the far wall. “Oli thinks he knows what’s best for everyone.”
“Does he?”
I didn’t want to answer that, so I didn’t.
My heart picked up speed abruptly when Amir shifted.
He grabbed onto the arm around his waist and used it to flip me onto my back as he rolled over.
Immediately, I went on the defensive, ready to go for all of his weak points—I could get my teeth into the inside of his bicep, my knee could easily be driven into his groin, or I could jab his eyes with the fingers of my free hand.
I kept the ideas at bay, waiting to see if I would need them.
Amir remained on his knees above me and stared as if he knew exactly what he was looking for. “He said something else.”
“What else could he possibly say?”
“That your eyes don’t lie.”
One of my brows rose. “Eyes are the most deceptive of all.”
“Is that why you look nervous?” He leaned down, his gaze never leaving mine.
“There’s a man restraining me in bed,” I pointed out. “Not gonna lie; it’s not my favorite experience. Top five reasons I spent so much time and money on therapy, actually.”
His grip on my arm loosened enough that I could get out of his hold if I wanted to. “Did it work?”
“I don’t think about testing the infamous vengeance of the gods anymore, so there’s that.”
His lips turned down. It made my own flippant attitude start to fade, and I had to look at the window.
“I love the life I’ve built. All that other stuff was a long time ago, so don’t act weird about it.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him lean down.
My jaw was tight, but he ended up just kissing my cheek.
When my eyes closed, I felt his lips touch my eyelid.
Something in my chest felt heavy, weighed down by the gentleness as he moved to lie beside me again.
He pulled me close like before, and I felt too weak to resist, so I returned my head to his chest without a word.
The sound of kindness, it seemed, broke me more than anger ever did. It was a language I’d forgotten, but by the Aesir, how I wished I were fluent.