Chapter 22 #3
Byron’s jaw ticks, but he starts toward me a beat before Salvatore moves. He follows me back to the storage room and shuts the door behind us firmly.
“You know about my—my counting,” he says without preamble, his gaze searching mine. “That day when we worked on the Bloom Practicum assignment together, you noticed what I was doing and understood.”
I rest my hand on his arm. “I know about the counting and adjusting your books and the way your mind spirals so you feel like you have to do those things. And I already knew about your family property and the way you let out your magic there.”
He gives a rough laugh. “You already had it in mind when you asked me the question yesterday.”
“Yeah. I’m sorry. It sounds so manipulative, but that wasn’t why—”
His voice softens. “I know. Maybe I don’t know you as well as whatever Byron you’re used to did, but I know you enough. And it makes a hell of a lot more sense than the Elodie I thought I knew having a sudden personality transplant.” He pauses. “What else?”
He’s less afraid of what I might tell him than Cole was. But then, no one would ever accuse Byron of cowardice.
I consider my answer. “You feel a lot of pressure from your family, and you worry about living up to their expectations. But that would be easy to guess for anyone in your position. You told me your little sister struggles more than you do and you worry about her even more. I think that was the hardest part for you about leaving the family.”
That thought sends a fresh spike of panic through my veins. “If you don’t want them moving her away without you around—”
“Elodie.” Byron touches my arm. “I’ll sort it out.
But I’m not leaving you. You… you’re an even better match for me than I could have guessed.
The amount of shit you’ve been through, to still be standing…
” His throat works. “You really are incredible. And I can’t wait to get to know how much else I’ve missed. ”
He dips his head to claim a brief kiss that’s tender enough to leave my head spinning. How did I get this lucky?
I have the impression of my imagined other Byron watching with an air of satisfaction that his counterpart passed the test.
The second we step into view, Salvatore barges over with a glower at Byron. “How many dark secrets could you even have, Worth?”
He tugs me out of the other guy’s hold and leans in to press his mouth to mine in front of the whole group.
Despite the self-consciousness that prickles through me at the overt PDA, my pulse leaps jubilantly. It’s this important to him to make a statement of his continued devotion.
When Salvatore eases away, he offers a grin that’s just for me. “Come on, a chroí.”
He hooks his arm around mine and guides me away. The second the closet door is closed, he nudges me up against it.
My startled gasp vanishes into the even more emphatic kiss he plants on me. He pulls me flush against him, one hand on my back and the other on my ass. With desire spiking through my veins, I melt into his embrace.
Salvatore kisses me again, drawing the skillful coaxing of his mouth out until I’m whimpering instead. He draws back only a couple of inches, his hands rising to the sides of my face.
His breath grazes my skin. “I want you to know that you are mine now. Wherever this other version of me is, I’ll just have to beat him down so bad you can’t spare one bit of affection for him.”
I touch his chest. “Tore…”
“You think I can’t? I’ll launch myself across every fucking universe there is to stick it to him.”
“It’s not a competition.” I trail my fingers up to cup his jaw. The truth of the words I’m going to say reverberates through me. “This reality is where I’m staying. I’ve accepted that. And I don’t even know how to be upset about it anymore, because… I already love you.”
Salvatore growls his approval and reclaims my lips. He kisses me so hard and long I start to wonder if he’s planning on hooking up right here in Cole and Asher’s basement—and if I really mind.
When he pulls away again, it’s far enough that his bright blue eyes can hold my gaze. “You already know me too. You knew about the cooking, yeah? You took a jab about it when I was hassling you.”
“I’m sorry. I—”
“No, a shíorghrá. You were putting your foot down. I deserved it.” He rubs the side of his neck. “You know about this too. About how I got the nerve damage?”
My voice fades to a whisper. “Your parents.”
“Yeah.” He bumps his nose against mine. “There’s no one else I’d rather have keeping all my secrets, Elodie. And you came so far to do it. Fate brought you across all the dimensions between yours and mine so you could be here with me.”
The unfettered delight in his words squeezes my heart—and loosens a thread of tension deep inside me.
This whole time I’ve thought of my situation as being all Aunt Daphne’s fault, disrupting what fate gave me.
What if Salvatore is right? What if Daphne didn’t alter fate but was guided by it in her search?
Whatever cosmic will drives all our realities… Does it believe these men need me more than my first matches did?
I still have one more match to talk to, and it’s hard to believe he’ll see our situation the same way.