Chapter 37 #2
I slowly sank down onto the armchair closest to her, mirroring her pose by resting my own chin on my hand. She smiled slowly, then fluttered her eyelashes before glancing away.
“Okay,” she said, still looking away. “Ask me a question.”
“Why aren’t you looking at me?”
Skye snorted, then hid her face with her hand. “You’re really hot, Wyatt. I don’t know what to do with myself when I have your full attention.”
I choked on air. “You’re serious?”
Skye giggled. “Yeah. My turn. Why don’t you believe me?”
I shook my head slightly. “I don’t think anyone’s ever called me hot.”
“Maybe not to your face,” Skye muttered. “Your um…no girlfriends ever told you that?”
It was my turn to snort. “No? Never directly to me.”
Skye looked at me like I was lying.
I wasn’t.
“Your turn,” Skye said, chewing on her lip.
“Are you okay? Truly?”
Skye’s lip slowly popped out from between her teeth while she furrowed her brow. “No,” she said softly. “I feel…like I’m alone out on the sea. I can’t believe Zephyr hurt you on purpose. I keep hoping it’s not real.”
I sighed, then rubbed my tired eyes. “You’re never alone, Skye–”
“Are you okay?”
I snorted. “No. I’m never okay. But I only had one coffee this morning, and I still have a long way to go until bedtime.”
When I looked up, Skye was gone. I blinked. Had she teleported? After a minute or two of silence, I moved to stand, and she teleported back, holding out a blue mug of coffee to me.
I froze.
“Did you…just make that?” I stammered.
“Yeah?” Skye pushed the mug toward me more forcefully. “What’s wrong?”
“You’ve never made me coffee except for that first time I met you,” I said softly.
Skye leaned forward, pressing the mug into my hand. I sucked in a breath at her proximity, which turned into an embarrassing gasp as she pressed her lips to mine.
The kiss was over before I could really comprehend what’d happened, then Skye sank back down on the couch while I held the bright blue mug.
I cleared my throat a bit awkwardly, then took a sip of the perfect temperature coffee.
“Whose turn is it to ask a question?”
Skye giggled. “I don’t know. You start again.”
“Okay,” I took another sip of the perfect coffee. “Were your parents affectionate?”
Skye’s lips parted and then she snapped her mouth shut. “Are you psychoanalyzing me?”
“You’re supposed to answer the question before asking another one,” I said, my heart racing. Why had I asked that? Was I psychoanalyzing her?
“You’re making up rules for this new game awfully quickly,” she muttered. I grinned, and her eyelashes fluttered again.
“Are you going to answer?”
“Is that a new question?”
I huffed.
She grinned, then glanced away, her gaze going far away.
“They were sort of affectionate. Levi’s comment about my mom not belonging to him…
is really weird. I never would’ve suspected she wasn’t the true Key to the Chain.
But thinking back…Ben usually took Levi’s side.
And Levi…” Her face crumpled slightly, and I felt like such a dick for asking such a question.
“I’m sorry,” I started.
“No, it’s fine,” Skye said with a sigh. “My mom was sick. She spent a lot of time in the dark. She would get chest pains, and…” Skye swallowed thickly, going silent for a moment probably so her voice wouldn’t quiver.
“She would sit with an ice pack against her chest a lot. She said it helped. She had good days and bad days, and when she was having a bad day, Zephyr and I had to be invisible. But Levi never cared. He’d go storm into the bedroom and start shit over the smallest things.
I always wondered why he didn’t care that she didn’t feel well. ”
I nodded, sighing deeply. I’d spent a lot of time considering whether or not Skye’s parents were meant to be or not.
Levi’s comments needed elaborating, but he was still missing.
As far as Zephyr could tell, he hadn’t been back to the apartment.
I was beginning to think we’d have to go search for him.
“Do you care?”
My eyes darted up to Skye, who was keeping her gaze on the couch cushion.
“Do I care about what?”
“Do you really care if my parents loved each other or not?”
“Of course I care,” I said softly. “I care about a lot of things regarding you.”
Skye nodded, picking at an invisible piece of lint on the couch arm.
“Did your dad love your mom?” She asked quietly.
I grinned. “He loved her affinity. My mother is a formidable earth affinate. My father likes to think my earth affinity is strong because of him, but really, it’s because of her. Willow’s is different. Hers is definitely because of him.”
“Willow can’t move metal,” Skye whispered.
“No,” I said slowly, wondering if Rafe were close by and would hear me.
“No, but…I’d begun to suspect something was different but only recently.
Maybe…” I sat back, blinking. “Actually, I noticed for the first time after the storm in the islands. I ran away from you and I was so pissed by seeing you so upset I kicked a fence and it…bent.”
Skye giggled, and I shook my head.
“Does your mom move metal?”
“Maybe,” I replied, sitting back. “She was in the military, you know. That’s where she met my father.”
“So many people in the military,” Skye mused.
“None of your parents…?” I trailed off as she shook her head. “Hmm,” I thought aloud. “I guess that makes sense. None of them attended any academies?”
“Levi did,” Skye replied, then furrowed her brow. “That’s…all I know, though.”
There was silence for a few minutes, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Skye finally asked the next question. “How many girlfriends have you had?”
I snorted as I took a sip, grimacing as warm coffee almost made it into my nose. I coughed, shaking my head. “Why do you care?” I laughed. “How many boyfriends have you had?”
“One,” Skye said darkly. “This guy in highschool who couldn’t find my clit if it was lit up with a spotlight.”
I coughed again, then laughed loudly, clutching my stomach at the mental image. Skye chuckled along with me, but it quickly morphed into a full-on laugh. The two of us laughed together so freely, it felt nice. Normal.
“Move in, Wyatt.” Skye said as her chuckles waned. “I’ll help you grab your things. I want you here.”
Skye was right. People would find out who the other members of Rafe’s Chain were eventually. The last thing I needed to do was contribute to a rumor that the younger Royal Chain was dysfunctional.
“I want to be here, too.” I whispered.