110. Summer
Chapter One Hundred Ten
Summer
I pace the living room, waiting for Rafe to come downstairs. Embarrassment is making my heart race. The stranger and I both know what I was dreaming of, but he wasn’t actually in my dream, which means I must have been talking in my sleep, or worse?.?.?. moaning.
Right, no more sleeping with him on the phone.
Rafe walks through the front door. He’s shirtless and shoeless, his pants have holes in them like they’ve been burned, and he has the biggest smile on his face.
“Hey,” he says, pulling me into a hug, and my nose wrinkles from the smell of flames emanating from him.
“Hey?.?.?. you coming to the gym?” I ask. It’s obvious he’s been with Mira, but I’m not sure if he’s broken up with Annabeth yet. It can be a tricky thing breaking a kitsune’s heart, and you need to approach it with caution.
“Absolutely. Give me five minutes,” he says, bounding up the stairs.
Alice passes him on the way down, wearing her blood-splattered onesie and yawning widely.
“Rafe’s smiling,” Alice says with a scowl. “It’s weird.”
“I think he was with Mira.”
Alice sniffs after him and nods in confirmation. Fae have a pretty good sense of smell, but it’s nothing compared to a vampire’s. “He’s going to end up getting cursed by a kitsune, and he’s going to deserve it completely.”
Kitsune victims are known as anathema, or the cursed one . It’s not common for them to do full curses, and they are mostly illegal, but that doesn’t mean she won’t do something to make his life hell for a while .
“I know, I’ll try to reason with him,” I say, rolling my eyes.
Alice snorts. “Good luck.”
Rafe comes back downstairs. His wide smile is annoying, but I find myself smiling with him. It’s not usual for him to seem so naturally happy, and it’s nice to see. He does need to be careful, though.
I hand him his protein shake and I take a drink of mine as we bid Alice goodbye and head to the gym, the early morning cloaked in winter’s chill.
Rafe whistles as we walk, and I glance at him. Even his step has a little more spring.
“I take it things went well?”
“What makes you say that?” Rafe asks, glancing at me.
“You’re whistling.”
“Just a good day.” Rafe shrugs.
I stop walking, and Rafe looks at me. “Rafe. Just be careful. Okay?”
Rafe’s smile falters a little. “I’m always careful.”
Not when it comes to Mira. I’ve seen evidence of that already. “You can’t let Annabeth see you with Mira. You need to let the dust settle a little after you break up with her. If that’s still your plan.”
“I’ve already broken up with her, but I’m not planning on flaunting Mira and me in front of her.”
I nod. “Listen, I get this school seems big, but it’s not,” I say, knowing from experience. I still find myself ducking and diving to avoid Brett and Rick. “What if Annabeth sees you in the corridor? Or walking home? Or at Mira’s place?”
Rafe’s cheeks flush guiltily, and he mumbles something under his breath.
“What?” I ask, quirking a brow.
Rafe looks away, rubbing his hand over the back of his neck. “They might live together.”
I blink. “Who?”
Rafe throws me a bland look. “Who do you think?”
I frown, and then it clicks. But wait?.?.?. No, it can’t be?.?.?. “Mira and?.?.?. Holy fuck, Rafe!” I gape at him. “They live together?”
Rafe grimaces. “Yeah.” He looks around. “Also, keep your voice down.”
“What the fuck?” I whisper-shout, but then another thought occurs to me. “Wait, where were you last night, then?”
Rafe looks at me like it should be obvious, and I just blink at him .
“Rafael Samael Morningstar. Tell me right now you did not fuck Mira in her shared apartment with your barely ex-girlfriend.”
Rafe blinks, and I don’t know how he has the gall to look surprised. “You make it sound so dirty.”
“You did!” I gape at him, scandalized.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Was Annabeth home?”
“No.” He looks away. “Well, not at first.”
I stare at him, my mouth opening and closing like a fish as I try to figure out what to say.
“Only at the end! So I snuck out the window.” When I just continue to stare at him, he turns even redder. “What?!” But I’m completely dumbfounded. “Say something,” he says, shaking me lightly.
“I?.?.?.” I blink, shaking my head. “Let’s just go.” I link my arm through his and pull him toward the gym.
Rafe follows along, getting even more flustered. “Did I do something wrong?”
Fucking idiots. All of them.
“You know, why don’t we ask Max?” Though I’m not sure that’ll help. Max is also an idiot.
When we walk into the gym, Max looks at me, assessing me with slight concern. “Feeling better?” he asks, and it takes me a moment to remember my lie from last night. A wave of guilt wiggles through me, but it’s about to be eclipsed by the fuckery that is Rafe’s situation.
“Yes, thank you.” I look at Rafe. “Tell him.”
Max frowns, crossing his arms over his chest and looking between us.
“Mira is here,” Rafe starts.
“Hey, that’s great!” Max says, breaking out into a genuine smile. “How is sh?—”
“Tell him the rest, Rafael.”
“The rest?” Max frowns.
Rafe clears his throat. “I broke up with Annabeth.”
Max nods. “You did what I told you, right?”
I roll my eyes. It still blows my mind that Max thinks he’s qualified in the art of gently letting down females, but anyway.
“Yeah, I did. She cried,” Rafe says .
Max nods and pats him on the shoulder. “Hopefully, the words will come as comfort one day.”
“So then I went after Mira.”
Max blinks. “Okay, a bit fast but?—”
“Just wait,” I interrupt again, gesturing for Rafe to continue.
Rafe exhales heavily. “So, I went to Mira’s place and we?.?.?.” He flushes. “Were intimate.”
“Okay, is this information I need?” Max grimaces and glances at me, but I’m still glaring at Rafe. “What is your sister getting at, Rafe?”
“Mira is sharing a suite with Annabeth,” Rafe says, looking away from both of us.
Max blinks once, twice, three times, as dumbfounded as I am.
“Yup,” I say, popping the p , happy that I’m being vindicated by someone who is also a stupid male.
“I don’t see what the issue is. I broke up with her.”
“Wait,” Max says, shaking his head. “How long was the length of time between the two events?”
“A few hours?” Rafe says, though I can tell he’s still calculating when he answers.
Max groans. “Rafe. You have brothers. This should be obvious to you.”
I cross my arms. “Too much time with dumb and dumber and not enough with Con and Luke, apparently.”
Rafe scowls at me. “I don’t see what I did wrong!”
Max hits him across the back of the head in a move that is so brotherly that it makes my chest ache a little.
“Max is female inept, and even he knows how you fucked up,” I say, my lips twitching. Max glares at me, and I blow him a kiss. It makes him soften, but he still flips me off.
“Okay, Rafe. Remember how we went over what to say to Annabeth? Do you remember why we discussed it for almost two hours?” Max says, focusing back on Rafe.
“Because I didn’t want to hurt her feelings more.”
Max nods. “Right. You might not have felt the same connection to her as you do with Mira, but you still dated her for a few months, so there are still feelings at play. Even if they were one-sided. ”
I blink at Max, completely perplexed. This can’t be the same guy who freaked out when I bought him a succulent.
“So?.?.?.” he says slowly, trying to get through to Rafe. “There are still feelings to consider that are not yours or Mira’s.”
“So I should be more careful?” Rafe asks with a confused frown.
Max throws him an exasperated look and scrubs his hand over his face. “Just give it time before you fuck her roommate again.”
I blink at Max again, still in a state of shock.
Max feels my eyes on him and looks at me. “What?”
I shake my head.
“She’s surprised that you give good girl advice when you’re a moron with her.”
Max rolls his eyes. “I give good advice. Following it is another matter.”
“Whatever, I’m going to warm up,” I say, flipping them both off before going to the treadmill. They head to the sparring room, and I push myself. The various grunts and crashes coming from the room are just background noise.
A little over an hour later, Rafe emerges from the room, and like always, he has a glow about him. The security Max gives him is everything, and it has contributed so much to Rafe’s growth and progress. For that alone, I will forever be thankful to Max.
“Your turn, Sum,” Rafe says, heading to the weights. I nod and turn off the treadmill, wiping my face as I join Max in the sparring room. He casually tosses me my sai, and I catch them, getting into position quickly.
Max swings for me, and when I trap his broadsword between my sai, I meet his gaze.
“Are you really surprised I give good advice?” he asks, and I push him back before I answer.
“About females? Very.”
Max rolls his eyes. “You know, I’m actually a smart guy. I mean, not you smart, but I do okay.”
I lunge at him, but he blocks me. “I didn’t say you weren’t smart, but about females?”
“Ouch,” Max says, slamming his sword into me, forcing me back a step.
I disengage one of my sai and pull it back to slam it against his sword, but he pulls it free of my other sai and blocks again, and then we settle into the silence of sparring.
Max alternates physical blows and magical ones, and after another hour, he calls it.
I lean against the wall, catching my breath.
“You’re almost back to your strength level from last year.”
I nod, taking a drink of my protein shake. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“You should,” Max says, watching me as I push off the wall and return my sai to the wall. “Rafe is going to continue to pursue Mira, you know? Like an idiot.”
“I know.”
“He’s going to get cursed.”
“I know,” I repeat, sighing heavily.
“Stupid.”
I turn to face him and bend into a stretch. “He’s in love, and there is nothing reasonable about love.”
“He’s still an idiot.”
I nod, laughing. “But he’s our idiot.”
Max nods, and when I straighten, I find him much closer. “You know, I have some time before my next class?.?.?.” He says, placing his hand on my waist and leaning. I sway toward him, but this isn’t the time. Not just because of Rafe but because my head is a bit of a mess from yesterday.
“As tempting as that is,” I say, brushing my fingers down his arm, “I should get Rafe home so Alice can hammer-spank his ass about Mira before class.” I press against him a little, because I do like Max and I don’t want him to feel like this is a rejection, because it isn’t.
I’ve enjoyed the last few months with him.
The ease of it and how he makes me feel. “Later?” I ask.
“Counting on it,” he says, giving me a sexy smirk and winking at me. He squeezes my ass as I leave the sparring room to collect Rafe, and we head home.