Let Her Eat Cake
Grace
(Timeline: Beginning of Crush)
I trail off as Jaxon moves aside and I finally get a good view of my—still hot pink—side of the room. And the heavily loaded tray currently sitting on the end of my bed.
“When did you do this?” I ask, brows arched as I walk closer to check it out.
“You were with Marise for what felt like forever. I had to do something, or I was going to lose my mind.”
“So you decided to make me a four-course meal?”
He grins. “More like decided to badger the chef into making one for you. Food’s not exactly my strong suit.”
“I don’t know about that. I remember some really delicious waffles that came from you.”
“Also made by the chef.” He nods toward my bed. “Aren’t you going to try it?”
“I will in a minute.” I go up on my tiptoes so I can wrap my arms around Jaxon’s neck. “You’re very sweet,” I whisper.
He rolls his eyes. “Yeah, well, don’t spread that around, please. The last thing I need is for the werewolves to get any ideas.”
I kiss his cheek. “Your secret’s safe with me.”
Jaxon snorts, then starts to say something else, but he’s interrupted by yet another long, prolonged growl from my stomach.
This time we both laugh as Jaxon ushers me toward my bed.
“Eat!” he tells me.
“Okay, okay.” I plop down on my bed, and my whole body relaxes for what feels like the first time in forever.
I don’t know how he did it, but the tray Jaxon brought me is loaded with a bunch of my favorite foods—cherry Pop-Tarts and chocolate cake, chicken tacos and piles of strawberries.
There’s also a chicken sandwich, but, in my opinion, that’s the least interesting thing on the tray.
I grab one of the two sparkling waters—orange flavor, of course—and pop the top. I only plan on taking a small sip, but the second the water touches my throat, I realize I’m parched. Like desert in the middle of July parched. I end up guzzling the entire thing.
When I’m done, I lower the can to find Jaxon watching me with a mixture of concern and amusement. My cheeks flush with embarrassment, but what is there to say, really? I mean, besides, “Apparently being a gargoyle is thirsty work.”
“Apparently.” He reaches over and pops the top on the second can before holding it out to me. “Want me to run down and get you a few more?”
“No.” I reach over and take his free hand in mine. “I want you to stay here with me.”
“Yeah. That’s what I want, too.” He reaches up and brushes a stray curl back from where it’d fallen over my eye.
I grab the second can from him and take a much more sedate drink. As I lower it, Jaxon sticks my fork in the chocolate cake and brings a giant bite to my mouth.
“How did you know I planned on starting with the cake?” I ask, leaning forward to accept the bite.
He doesn’t answer, but his eyes gleam so wickedly that I find myself blushing again. What is it about this boy that turns me into such a mess?
As soon as I’m done chewing the first bite of cake, Jaxon shovels in a second piece that’s even larger than the first. I’m laughing before I even swallow it—an attractive look, I’m sure—but when he starts to fork up a third piece, I put my hand on his wrist.
“If I didn’t know you were a vampire before, I’d definitely know you were one now,” I tell him.
He looks confused. “What does that mean?”
“It just means it’s pretty obvious you’re used to drinking your meals.”
“So what you’re saying is I’m not doing it right?” His left brow goes up.
“I’m saying maybe you should let me take over from here.”
“Sorry.” He holds the fork out for me. “It always looks…enjoyable when a guy feeds his romantic interest in the movies. I just thought, you know…never mind.”
He looks embarrassed as he shakes his head, and just like that I melt. Like full-on, ice cube on a hot day melt. “You’re enjoyable,” I tell him with all the epic cheesiness he brings out in me as I grab his hand and press it to my mouth for a kiss. “That’s way more important.”
This time both brows go up. “You know, you left me a huge opening there, right?”
“I do know, yeah.” I bat my lashes at him exaggeratedly. “And you’re a total gentleman not to take it.”
“Just making sure you understand that.” He’s got a huge grin on his face now, maybe the biggest one I’ve ever seen from him. It distorts his scar a little, pulls it tight, but he’s too busy teasing me to notice—or care.
The rest of me joins my heart in a puddle on the ground, but I’m smart enough to know that letting him see it—especially over this—is the fastest way to get him to close back up again.
So instead of wallowing in it like I want to, I just send him an arch look and say, “Believe me, I do.” Then I hand the fork back to him. “Think smaller bites this time, okay?”
He pauses for a second, looks from me to the fork and back again. I realize I’ve surprised him, that I’ve thrown the all-powerful Jaxon Vega off his stride.
It’s a good feeling, especially since he’s been throwing me off mine from the second I laid eyes on him.
He doesn’t say anything, though. Instead, he forks up another bite of cake—this one much smaller than the last few—and holds it to my mouth.
I take it. Of course I do.
After three and a half months without Jaxon, there isn’t much I wouldn’t do for him. Or for us.
By the time I’m finally full, I’ve managed to finish the entire piece of chocolate cake, half the strawberries, and both tacos. I also drink the second sparkling water and then break into Macy’s small supply of Dr Peppers, but something tells me she won’t mind.
Jaxon and I talk through the whole meal. He catches me up on what I’ve missed at Katmere Academy, and I catch him up on…absolutely nothing. Yeah, this no-memory thing really freaking sucks.
But that’s okay. After the emotional roller coaster of earlier, it feels good to just sit here and stuff my face while I listen to him talk about Mekhi and Macy and how much he hates his Latin class.
Eventually, though, the alarm on his phone starts beeping.
Jaxon swipes it off with a grimace but pushes off the bed.
“I’ve got to go,” he tells me as he shoves his phone back in his pocket.
“It’s midterm week and I’ve got a test in Latin in ten minutes.
If it wasn’t worth thirty percent of my grade, I’d totally blow it off. ”
“Don’t worry about it.” I set the tray aside and walk him to the door. “I’m going to hop in the shower and then head to my next class, too. I just want to get the whole gawk at the gargoyle thing over with so tomorrow can go back to normal.”
“No one is going to ‘gawk at the gargoyle.’”
“Give me a break. You can’t even say it with a straight face.” I roll my eyes. “Everyone is going to gawk at me, and you know it.”
“So gawk back,” he says with a shrug. “It works for me.”
“It works for you because you’re a prince. And because they’re all terrified of you.”
“You’re a gargoyle now. I promise you, they’re way more scared of you than they are of me.”
“Yeah, right. All I can do is turn to stone. Sooooo scary.”
Jaxon gets a weird look on his face, but he doesn’t say anything else. Normally, I’d push, but he’s got to get to class and to be honest, I’m anxious to get going myself. The sooner I get through my first class, the easier it will be to go to my next one.
That’s probably why my stomach clenches a little when Jaxon leans down to kiss me goodbye—because I’m worried and nervous and more than a little freaked out. I mean, it can’t be because of Jaxon, not when he’s been nothing but wonderful since he walked into my uncle’s office two hours ago.
Still, I flinch when he leans down to brush his lips over mine, and though he doesn’t call me on it, I can see the question in his eyes. I don’t know what to say to him, though, not when I don’t understand what’s going on myself.
So in the end, I just smile and say, “Good luck on your test.”
He smiles back, but he doesn’t try to kiss me again. Instead, he gives me a little wave as he steps into the hallway. “I’ll text you later. Maybe we can meet up for dinner if you still feel okay?”
“Yeah, of course. I’ll be fine. Except maybe you just should come by the room when you’re free? I don’t know what happened to my phone, so I can’t text right now.”
He looks surprised. “You lost your phone?”
“I guess? I mean, I had it on me the day I turned to stone, but when I went to text you this morning, I realized it was gone. And since I have no memory of what I’ve spent the last four months doing—I mean, besides impersonating a statue—I don’t have a clue where to start looking for it. So yeah, I’ve lost my phone.”
“I didn’t even think about it. I should have.” He reaches forward like he’s going to brush my hair away from my face but then stops mid-reach…which makes me feel a thousand times worse and about a million times more awkward.
“Go to class,” I tell him. “Latin tests wait for no man.”
“Yeah.” He gives me a little half grin. “I’ll see you later.”
“I’m counting on it.”
I walk him to the door, then sink to the floor after I close it behind him.
Losing three and a half months is hard—harder than even I expected it to be.
And as I look over at the thoughtful meal my thoughtful, wonderful boyfriend brought me, I can’t help but wonder if those months were too long.
And if we’ll ever be able to get back what we missed.