Chapter 48
FORTY-EIGHT
“Thy lips are warm.”
Lights beam down on me. The heat of them should cause sweat and stickiness, but I am more comfortable than ever as I kneel on this stage floor.
Jett lies dead beneath me, his poet shirt billowy and still. The image takes precedent, real tears coming to my eyes. You could hear a pen drop in this auditorium, not a single person’s gaze not upon us.
“Lead, boy: which way?” My cue comes at last.
“Yea, noise? then I’ll be brief. O happy dagger!”
The pretend dagger is heavy in my hand as I exaggerate a slight shaking before steadying it with steel. My face parallels it, the decision already made.
“This is thy sheath;” I recite, before plunging the knife into my stomach with a mannered gasp. The stage make-up is fantastic as fake blood starts to pour from the wound. I grasp at it, losing feeling.
“there rust, and let me die.” The second my final words are said, there’s a huge rush of relief. I fall upon Jett, landing the way we’ve rehearsed, and let out a sigh.
The rest of the ending scene happens quickly, especially as I’m folded over my scent match who’s smell is like catnip.
I only have to restrain myself from rubbing my face against him as the rest of the cast finishes up the play.
And when they do, the audience erupts in applause that’s like music to my ears.
The first night of opening weekend is always the most difficult, I hear.
After this, it becomes a routine. A short one, of course, but one nonetheless.
Jett and I stand up, and he gives me a beam and a nudge in the bond that says “ Good job.” It makes me blush as we go to the front of the stage for our bow, our hands never leaving each other.
The applause is music to my ears, but I know that the pride I feel in my gut has more to do with him than the audience.
Sharing this moment together is something I will cherish for the rest of our lives.
This play is a part of our journey, something we will recount for others when they ask how we fell in love. I imagine Jett with wrinkles, telling them about our first kiss and how it happened on stage while his blockers wore off. The thought makes me snort under my breath.
I get a glimpse of our friends out in the audience, hollering up a storm. My heart pinches, feeling grateful for them more than anything. And seeing Dax and Everett being the loudest, their most obnoxious selves, makes me ironically blush.
I stay back to talk to a few stage techs, complimenting them on how beautiful the set was done.
One of them apologizes for missing a lighting queue and I wave it off, telling them I didn’t even notice.
Because, I didn’t. Jett may have distracted me in that flowy shirt more than he should have.
We should probably make it a rule to not be involved in the same projects going forward if we want to actually do our jobs.
Rocco comes up to me and gives me kudos for that ending scene. He praises the entire thing, but says the ending was so beautifully done, he was worried about messing up his part. He also keeps a foot of distance between us, extremely respectful of the fact that I’m newly bonded.
When I’m finally changed and head out to meet my friends, Jett is in the hallway but not alone. Professor Chapman is chatting to him, smiling more brightly than I’ve ever seen him. When I walk up, his smile gets even bigger, an admiration sparkling in them that I’ve never seen before.
“Miss Cromwell, you did a magnificent job,” he says with a serious tone. “That final scene… I nearly cried. It all came together so beautifully. I think I should apologize one more time for?—”
“It’s water under the bridge,” I tell him sincerely. He’s jumped leaps and bounds from how he acted weeks ago, and I’m happy to put it behind us. Plus, I won’t have any more classes with him, so there’s no reason to hold a grudge.
“Now, I know you’re not looking for stage work, but a friend of mine was in the audience tonight.
To see Rocco, of course—you know he has his sights set on Broadway—but he was impressed by you.
” The casual way he says it takes me back.
A wonderful shimmering eases under my skin at the implication.
“Here’s his card. If you’re interested.”
He hands it to me, the matte-finished card feeling like money in my hands. It looks really expensive for a business card, almost like a black amex. I give him a genuine smile. “Thank you, Professor. For everything.”
He nods, his dramatic flair more present than ever. “Congratulations, you two. On the play, yes, but also on your new bonds. I wish you two a very happy life together, and I wish you more unintelligent know-it-alls that your pack can bust the balls of in the future.”
He laughs as he walks off, leaving behind only amusement.
“Are you going to call him?” Jett asks, pointing at the business card while he takes my hand. We move down the hallway, preparing for the storm that is our friends when we turn around the corner.
“I’ll probably call him to just reiterate that I’m not looking for stage work.
I’d like to thank him for the opportunity though.
Maybe he knows other people in the business,” I say, my happiness glowing.
“I’d like to graduate before anything. Getting work during the school year completely defeats the purpose, doesn’t it? ”
He nods. “I was just thinking the exact same thing.”
Just like we thought, there’s an uproar of cheering as we come around the corner.
It looks like Dax has convinced almost the entire hockey team to come tonight.
It makes me feel elated that he’s got that many people that are supportive of not only him, but his mates.
Our core group emerges first, overwhelming us with hugs and words of congratulations.
Then Stacia and Opal grab me, giving me a group hug that almost squeezes the life out of me. Seeing their happy expressions does wonders to me. Even though I’ve just had a glorious night, seeing them makes it that much better.
Dax and Everett step forward, huge grins taking over their face and their hands hidden behind their back.
“What are you guys hiding?” I ask, meeting their excitement with a suspicious glare. Dax shows me first as he thrusts a huge bouquet of flowers at me. They’re pretty and pink and smell as light as they are. My eyes widen with surprise.
“You got me flowers?”
“Better. Cherry blossoms,” he says with eagerness.
The sentiment has its desired effect. I hug them to my chest. “Thank you,” I huff, feeling emotional. My dad used to bring me flowers after every performance, always pink and plentiful. The thought doesn’t make me sad this time, though. It lights me up .
“We got some for you, too,” Dax says to Jett, who just laughs, thinking it’s a joke.
“Right,” he chuckles, shaking it off, but then Everett pulls out a bouquet behind his own back. They’re a deep purple color with long leaflets, making the bouquet look full. Jett’s eyes hone in on them, surprise taking over his features. “Really?”
Everett grins. “You did an amazing job. These are gladiolus flowers.”
Jett takes them from our prime’s hands. I can feel him hiding the sudden emotion through the bond, choking a little to cover it up. “No one’s ever gotten me flowers before.”
There’s something about my mates’ relationship that causes me to beam. I rub Jett’s back, giving him some silent support that he accepts fully, his body relaxing under my palm.
“We were thinking of going out for a late dinner,” Stacia cuts in, pointing over her shoulder. “Actually, Ciro just really wants food, is what I should say.”
“Hey, we were always planning to treat them after their performance,” Ciro bites out. “Don’t put this one on me.”
“It’s so easy to put it on you,” Kendall says.
We start to head out, moving slower now because of the array of people standing around, the night coming to an end.
I feel the softest movement around my fingers, accompanied by the dark and smooth pull of decadent cherries. Dax’s fingers curl around mine and I look at him with a shiny smile already on my face.
“I got the house,” he says in a husky whisper, and the butterflies in my stomach soar immediately.
“What?” I respond as quietly as I can, disbelief lacing my tone. We stop walking as we get outside, the rest of the group strolling on without us.
“That townhome you love, downtown.” His eyes trail away from mine, almost like he’s nervous. “All I have to do is sign the lease and it’s ours. If you want it.”
My eyes nearly bug out of my head. “What!”
He seems to think that my outburst is a refusal, because his face contorts with panic. “Or not! We can keep looking for another place to live, I’m sure there’s something closer?—”
Dax shuts up as I pull his lips to mine. It takes a second, but then he relaxes into the kiss, wrapping his arms around me when I jump into his arms.
I pull away, finding a giant smile on his face. He holds me securely in his arms, confusion painted all over his face. “So… you are happy?”
The giggle that escapes can’t be stopped. “Are you serious ? Of course I’m happy! Why wouldn’t I be?”
He finally returns my smile, the tension from before completely falling away. “I’m not sure. I thought maybe it was too much… sometimes I can be too much, especially with gifts.”
That softens something inside of me. I place my hand on his chin and point him towards me so our eyes meet. “You aren’t too much. You have never been too much. Not for me, okay?”
The smile that takes over him is shy, but still just as vivid as usual. He’s always the brightest light in the room. Even in this auditorium that has so many of them, he’s still the brightest one, and he’s shining that light right at me.
It’s not the usual spotlight I’m used to being under, but I love it just as much.
“In that case, I think it’s time I give you this.” He pulls out a tiny square box, red velvet soft under my fingertips as he places it in my hand. “And don’t say anything about getting this and the house in the same day. You were stunning on that stage tonight, you deserve every gift and more .”
I don’t recognize the label, so I’m guessing it’s from an expensive store I’ve never shopped at before. In spite of that, I find myself opening it up quickly, desperate to see what’s lying inside.
The first thing I see is a padlock. The chain attached to it is cold under my fingertips, the silver authentic and hefty. It’s fucking stunning as it shimmers underneath the street lights as I pull it from the box. “Holy shit, Dax. Is this real silver?”
He gives me a cheeky grin. “There’s an inscription,” he whispers, rich and sultry as he points at the blurred blobs at the bottom.
“My love, are those even words?” I squint at them as best as I can. “They’re tiny as fuck.”
He gives a hearty laugh. “I know, silly. I wanted the words to be just for you and me. So no one could accidentally read them and ask you about it.”
Dax gives me a tiny gray device and I balk at him. “It comes with its own loupe?!”
The laugh he emits is full of even more humor. “Just look at it.”
I hold the loupe to my eye and then pull the padlock up so I can see clearly. It takes a second for the words to form and become readable, but my heart squeezes the second they do.
Forever grateful I didn’t lock that door.
I try and fail to hold the gasp in, fully letting the dramatics take over as I read the words. It makes sense now, the padlock, and the shy nature he had while handing it to me. This is special, and I feel myself closing my hand over it as if to protect it.
“I love it,” I tell him. I put the box down with my stuff and then hand it to him. “Can you put it on me?”
“I’d love to.” He takes it from me, handling it with just as much care, as I turn around and let him slide it around my neck.
The second I hear it clasp together, a piece of my soul slides into place.
I can feel his happiness radiating through the bond, his alpha content that I love the thing he’s gifted me.
“You are my heart,” he says for my ears only. It tickles the skin of my neck and leaves goosebumps running down my body. “And you have mine. Always. ”
Our lips meet over my shoulder, and I don’t even care about the awkward way I bend my neck to do it because his mouth is warm and gentle, roaring of the seriousness he’s putting on the table.
He’s always been my comedian, my larger-than-life person.
But in these moments, he allows himself to be subdued, to show me the real him underneath the hockey star and the party animal.
It’s everything to me, and with the reminder of it around my neck, I’ll never, ever forget it.