Chapter 29
Skye
I was numb.
Flashes of Landon’s final moments kept popping into my mind, and I was already dreading going to bed tonight. The haunted look on Lana’s face would never leave me as long as I lived.
I kept imagining how I’d feel if Zephyr had been killed.
I’d be lost.
With or without Aiden, I don’t think I’d ever recover.
Speaking of…
My ray of sunshine was currently bouncing around the fucking elevator taking us to the top floor our new penthouse dormitory.
Yes, there was an elevator in the dormitory building.
I was still pissed over my months of constant burning thighs from going up and down the stairs multiple times a day to get to my old room.
Finding out there’d been an elevator in the building the whole time had me so irritated, my affinity itched in my hands.
Sure, I worked out every morning, but stairs were actual torture. And…I definitely used to teleport instead of taking most stairs.
Call me lazy. I don’t care.
Aiden smacked a kiss to my cheek before dancing away from me. I shuddered as the small box of a room rocked slightly. Aiden chewed his lip, looking sheepish as the elevator came to a stop.
I decided not to scold Aiden for jumping around like an electrified rabbit as I remembered how fucked up he’d been at the assembly.
I hadn’t thought about his possible trauma when I declared we were coming back here to Zephyr, and I again cursed Wyatt for being such a dumbass.
Aiden did need some actual counseling, but seeing as the only other option was the bun bitch, that wouldn’t be happening.
Aiden was back to his normal self for now, so I put that thought on the back-burner with the thousands of other things I was currently avoiding.
No more physically running away from things. Now, we were just mentally running away. Great.
A high-pitched ding rang out as the elevator doors opened up, and I winced from the volume just as I caught sight of…
Fuck.
It was a penthouse.
And it was huge.
Just the entrance space was larger than my apartment and the café combined. There were several bedrooms, though I hadn’t read my paperwork, so I wasn’t sure of any specifics. I was standing in a foyer, though, which was something only rich people had.
There was a sitting room off to the left, and a massive television slash theater room to the right. The TV was the biggest I’d ever seen, practically the size of the wall it occupied.
Fucking fuck. This was insane.
I made my way past the two large rooms, pausing when I caught sight of the kitchen.
Also huge.
One entire wall was windows. This was the back of the dormitory building, so the view was just tree tops and landscaping.
It made me feel like we were all alone in the woods somewhere, and that made my affinity wobble for some reason.
I didn’t like feeling so far from the ocean.
The coast really wasn’t that far, but the trees made it feel like we were in a different world.
It was suffocating.
I turned, deciding I should distract myself. I eyed the glossy black appliances that matched the dark granite countertops. The cabinets were a bright white, and the tile was a marbled stone.
I felt like I was in some fancy hotel, and not a place I’d be living. I couldn’t imagine my regular clutter in a place like this. It was like imagining a shitty bumper sticker on a fancy car.
Aiden looked like a kid in a candy store. He’d darted ahead of me, running straight into the kitchen. He opened up the massive fridge, laughing when he saw it was fully stocked with sodas, juice, and fresh produce. He opened the pantry next, disappearing inside and giddily laughing again.
“The chips I like are in here!” His voice was muffled from being in the small space. “Skye, there’s some of those weird shrimp chips you like, too.”
“They’re not weird,” I muttered defensively as I looked around the rest of the space.
I stopped by a large, dark wooden dining table that lined part of the window wall, noticing a smaller breakfast nook was tucked away near the pantry.
A large vase full of blue irises sat in the middle of the kitchen island, and understanding hit me.
Rafe.
I scratched at my hands, feeling very, very out of place.
Hello? How is it?
I hadn’t realized Zephyr was trying to speak with me. I was too lost in thought while going through the opulent new space.
I blinked, letting Zephyr in to see what I was seeing.
Holy fucking shit, he said, stunned. I dragged my eyes across every feature again, lingering on the view of the woods through the windows.
I’m moving in, Zephyr said. Show me the rooms so I can pick one.
I snorted. No, I replied, then shoved him out of my mind as he protested.
Would it be so bad, though? There was plenty of room, here. Aiden and I would have our privacy, more than what we had in the apartment. Aiden could probably fuck me on the couch and no one would hear anything from the bedrooms.
I cringed at my next thought, imagining my brother here with his own hookup, and decided I’d made the right decision. Living apart could be good for us.
I froze.
When had that happened? Just a few months ago I’d been so desperate to hold onto my brother, I’d been hiding his keys so he couldn’t leave the apartment to go to the clubs at night. Now, I was content to live without him?
I blinked back some sudden tears.
“Skye? Shrimp chips?” Aiden poked his head out of the pantry.
I gave him a shaky grin. “Let’s go pick a room.”
Aiden flew out of the pantry, jogging past me and into the long hallway.
“Oh, holy shit,” he said as he stared into one room. “Look at the size of that bed.”
My cheeks were hot just hearing that fucking sentence.
I followed him into the room, then froze when I saw the bed. Because yeah, what the fuck. It was also huge, like it could easily fit five to six grown men. Where the hell did they even find sheets for a bed like this? Or a mattress this size?
“I’m going to kill Rafe,” I whispered.
“I’m not!” Aiden replied before belly-flopping onto a corner the bed. “Skye, this is amazing. You know what? If he still wants to grovel, tell him you want a new sports car.”
“But I don’t want a sports car,” I said as I perched on the other end of the bed.
“I know. But I do, and he’ll give you whatever you ask for.” Aiden said simply, giving me a dimpled grin.
“Come here,” I said.
Aiden scrambled across the bed toward me immediately, pausing in front of me on his hands and knees. I cupped his sweet face in my hands before kissing him. He kissed me back eagerly, playfully licking across my lips as I pulled back.
“I love you,” I said.
“I love you, too,” Aiden said, his eyes shining. “So much.”
“You know that doesn’t change, even if…” I trailed off, my throat going tight for some reason.
“Baby,” Aiden said softly. He moved to his knees, the hunched down so that we were eye level. “Your heart is big enough for more than one person. You can love someone else while still loving me. I promise.”
I nodded, and he kissed me again.
One of these days, I’d believe him.
I tossed and turned in the stupidly large bed.
I couldn’t sleep. The space was too new, too…I don’t know.
Every time I fell asleep for more than a few minutes, I’d see Landon, and I’d jolt awake.
I’d managed to roll away from Aiden at some point, so I wouldn’t keep him up.
He’d never mentioned that my sleep challenges affected him, but I knew him well enough to know he wouldn’t have told me even if it did.
Everything felt hot and itchy. Even my affinity seemed miserable. I imagined it rolling through me pitifully.
During first term, Zephyr had gotten me some earbuds so I could listen to ambient sounds while sleeping.
It sometimes kept the nightmares at bay while helping me feel a little more at home.
I hadn’t needed them since I started sleeping with Aiden regularly, but now I was reconsidering.
The new space was too big, and the trees outside only further dampened any sound, making me feel almost trapped.
At some point, I thought I heard murmured voices.
Aiden was awake, I could tell, but I was just on the verge of finally fucking sleeping, so I didn’t react. I was safe in this weird half-awake, half-asleep state.
“Darling,” someone whispered.
Oh. That wasn’t Aiden.
I opened my eyes to see Rafe was on one side of me while Aiden lay on the other. Both wide awake, watching me carefully.
“What,” I croaked, staring at the dark ceiling. I was too annoyed to appreciate the fact that the Prince was in my bed. Uninvited, but still. My heart fluttered in awareness.
He was only wearing a soft sleep shirt and some flannel pajama pants. Once again, I was too annoyed by my lack of sleep to really pay attention to why the Prince was in my bed wearing pajamas like he lived here.
My heart began to pound.
“Let me help you,” Rafe murmured.
“How,” I said flatly.
His hand trailed down my stomach, and I shivered before stopping him with my affinity. His dark eyes flashed.
“That’s not going to help anything,” I muttered.
“Are you sure, baby?” Aiden whispered in my other ear. I shivered, but didn’t move to stop him as he trailed his hand down my stomach, following the same path as Rafe. He teased at the waistline of his boxers I wore, and I covered my eyes with my forearm.
“Why does he get to touch you?” Rafe whined, and I couldn’t help but laugh. I could hear his pout.
“Don’t be a brat,” I said, half-joking.
“Maybe I want to be a brat for you,” Rafe said, his voice back to that easy seductive purr.
Aiden and I both chuckled at that, and Aiden lazily slipped his hand under the hem of the boxers, then teased the tips of his fingers over me. It took everything in me not to buck into his hand.
“No, you don’t,” Aiden said, speaking against my cheek. “You want to be good for Skye. It’s much more fun than being bad.”
“I want to judge that for myself,” Rafe said, still pouting.