Chapter 7
Nate
We didn’t get the tattoos, because the artist decided we were too drunk, which might be for the best, because as far as ink goes, a solo cup really isn’t representative of who I am as a person…
even if it does work perfectly with the erotic joke I now share with Tristan.
It’s past three in the morning when we arrive in front of my apartment building, and the cool air has sobered me up enough to once again let doubts flourish.
What am I doing? I can’t commit to traveling to another world because of a story and some tricks, right?
I’m a firm believer in science, and an altogether-upstanding citizen.
So how come I helped wreck Richie’s car and suggested to this stranger that we might make love tonight?
Even if my heart is in the la-la-land of romantasy, I can’t hope to fall in love within a night.
And why would I think about love when I barely know Tristan?
He even explicitly told me to keep our thing a secret from Gloombane.
If that’s not a red flag about his character, I don’t know what is.
Then again, my grandma met my grandad at a dance when he was visiting from Hawaii. He uprooted his life and moved to marry her three weeks later. Can love like that not exist now?
The massive horse snorts when Tristan pulls on its reins, directing it down the alley meant for pedestrians.
He’s holding me close by the waist, pretty much hugging me, and I’m still wearing his cloak.
We’ve not straight up said it, but it’s pretty obvious he expects to be invited to my place.
Technically, though, he’s ‘taking me home’.
“The moon in the Nightmare Realm is so much bigger and brighter. Do you remember?” He points at the sky where the moon is only a small white ball surrounded by a halo.
I’ve never seen a sky like the one I witnessed last night—colorful and filled with pinpricks of light.
The sky above appears muddy in comparison, just like all the guys I’ve dated so far seem when compared to Tristan.
“Is every night in your world so beautiful?” I ask, gently stroking the gloved fingers on my stomach.
Tristan laughs and rests his chin on my shoulder.
“Honestly? No, but just wait until you experience a blood moon. Everything gets soaked in a red glow. Let me help you envision it.” Before I realize what he’s doing, Tristan pulls a thick strand of his long hair over my eyes like a blindfold.
It’s flattened enough for me to kind of see through the red hair that smells of smoky herbs and sea salt, and I let my imagination run wild.
A world of magical ruins and strange beasts, illuminated by a red orb high above.
“I think I’m gonna love it there,” I rasp despite the uncertainty still looming in the pit of my stomach.
When the horse stops in front of the entrance I know that time for thinking’s over, and I look over my shoulder, meeting Tristan’s eerily luminescent eyes. “May I sleep on it?”
He smirks. “May I come with you?”
He has the kind of unshaken confidence that makes my heart stop. It’s so reassuring in a world of hot-and-cold guys who don’t know what they want and then ghost me anyway. And still, inviting him in feels so very naughty.
Tristan gets off the horse to help me down, like the gentleman he is.
“I… don’t usually do this…” I mutter, embarrassed that I’m explaining myself in the first place. I slide off the saddle and right into his arms.
“Oh, I do this all the time.” Tristan presses a kiss to my lips. I’ve waited for that since last night, and it’s even sweeter than it was in my dream.
Which wasn’t a dream?
Am I dreaming now?
I might just be, because his lips are making my knees weaken until he needs to hold me up.
My head’s spinning. Little jolts of electricity travel over my skin. And I don’t want him to stop. “Please, come inside…”
“That’s a request I can’t wait to fulfill,” Tristan whispers against my lips, his handsome face so close to mine, so warm and smooth.
I’m tall, but he’s… really big, and I can’t help but be attracted to it.
I’ve always had a soft spot for the shoulder pads on football uniforms, and those spiky pauldrons he’s wearing have the same effect on me.
So many of the things on my mind are too embarrassing to voice, but I still want to, in case this is a hyper realistic fever dream, and he’ll soon be gone forever.
“Show me how you’d do it, in your world.
How would you impress me? If I wasn’t Gloombane’s promised, how would you court me?
” I tease, struggling to keep my breathing even as he caresses my cheek with the backs of his fingers.
“I’d start off like this…” Tristan leans down and picks me up so fast I grab his neck like it’s my second nature.
“Then show off my wings…” It’s nighttime, but the ambient light from various streetlamps and Halloween decorations is still enough to let me see the giant, shadowy wings that appear behind him.
They’re the leathery, bat-like kind, yet somehow still see-thru.
“Because you have to admit they’re pretty impressive, right? ”
I shiver, overwhelmed by the impossibility of what I’m seeing, but when I reach out toward them, my hand doesn’t go through a projection.
The wings are sturdy yet delicate like the finest silk.
“Careful, I might never be impressed by anyone else again,” I say, and while I try to make it sound like a joke, I am serious. Who could possibly compete with… this?
“I sure hope so.” He makes the wings lean into my touch, and then he lets them slide around us, cocooning me against his chest. “I rather like having you all to myself.”
I can barely breathe as emotion crashes over me like an avalanche, because what the heck am I doing? I don’t know this man, and he admitted to doing this all the time, yet here I am, with a swarm of butterflies cozying up in my belly.
I want this night to never end, so I’m forever stuck in this impossible dream of perfect love. “Thank you for saving me from the river.”
When the cocky grin turns into something I can’t describe in any other way but soulful, my heart beats ever faster. I could lose myself in him, and make what was meant to be a silly rebound after Richie my whole personality.
“Destiny guided my hand, but when you told me how you died, I knew you were the right choice.”
I chuckle, gently wrapping a strand of blood red hair around my finger. “They said chivalry’s dead, but I have my very own knight in shining armor.”
“For you, I will polish it every night.” Tristan gives me another kiss, and I’m glad he’s holding me, because my knees are soft. “Where do we go?”
I point to the door but then reconsider when I think back to the many clothes I dropped to the floor as I was looking for the perfect outfit to wear tonight.
A half-eaten sandwich surely still sits on my desk, and I can’t be sure if Lady wasn’t allowed in my room while I was away.
I twitch in his arms in a sudden state of panic. “Actually, no! You need to wait.”
When he frowns, looking almost hurt, I rub his chest and correct myself. “I’m not prepared for guests. Let me just tidy up before you come in.”
“Sweetheart, I once had the contents of a dragonling’s stomach burst all over me after I killed it. I’m not afraid of a little mess.” But his wings pull back and he lets me down gently.
I have no idea what he’s talking about, but it does sound dreadful. “Maybe, but I was raised to put my best foot forward. It won’t even be five minutes,” I promise, stepping away from his warm, fragrant arms.
I expect more pushback, but he offers me a little bow, and then lowers himself to kiss my wrist as if it were some precious thing.
"In case you get lost, I'll know where to find you," he says, and I'm not sure whether that's a threat, or just insanely romantic.
I’m so overcome by emotion I almost trip on my way to the entrance, but when the key finally slides in, I step in and close the door behind me, because none of it feels real.
Heat washes over me as I take several deep breaths, but I can’t make him wait forever and head straight for my apartment. I walk in soundlessly in case Viola is already sleeping, but then I see a light in the living room as I pass, so I walk in to check on Lady.
“Oh, my God! Nate! Did you forget how to knock?” Viola yells, grabbing a blanket off the floor while my chaos-riddled brain takes in the scene.
A half-naked guy lifts himself on top of her and scowls. “What the fuck, man?”
I spin around, then close my eyes, because I can still see the reflection of Viola’s boobs in the hallway mirror.
“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”
“Well, you can now leave and close the door,” the guy says.
“Just so you know, I also have someone over.”
“Shut up,” Viola shouts, gasping and clearly no longer annoyed. “Wait, I’m coming,” she says, climbing off the couch.
“Seriously?” the guy asks, but she shushes him with a loud kiss.
“I’ll be a minute. Don’t go anywhere.”
He groans, but soon enough, Viola joins me in the corridor, closing the door of the living room. I peek through my fingers, but she’s now wrapped in a blanket.
“Lady is asleep in my room, I fed her and everything. Now tell me how Richie took it. And where is the rebound guy?” she lowers her voice, glancing at the door to my room. Clearly, she doesn’t care much for her hookup, so I take a deep breath and meet her gaze.
“The rebound guy is waiting outside. He helped me wreck Richie’s car and dueled him for my honor. I am not even joking.”
Her face, still painted into the tiger mask she was working on earlier, twists, and she utters a choked laugh. “Girl! Sounds like a keeper! Will he be your new mister?”
I cup my face with both hands and I am burning just as hot as I feared. “He also brought me here on horseback. I know it’s too early to talk about love but—”