Sebastian laughed. “Celosa.”
I pulled away, careful not to knock Ruthie over and smiled at her as Seb picked her up.
“Hey, Nox,” Seb nodded in his direction. “What are y’all up to?”
I shrugged looking back at Enoch, the guilt beginning to swirl in my stomach.
“Just celebrating my passing grade in math thanks to one very talented peer tutor. We’ll be upstairs until dinner is ready,” Enoch smiled, motioning for me to follow him upstairs.
“Oh, okay,” Sebastian sounded a little disappointed, but masked it with a smile. “See you later then, güerita.”
I nodded and quickly pushed Nox towards the stairs. I let out a huff as I shut his door behind us and plopped face first onto his bed. I felt the bed sag beside me as Nox sat down.
“That wasn’t so bad,” he sang, as he brushed my hair back so he could see my face.
I turned my head and looked up at him. The overhead light was casting shadows down his face, accentuating his long lashes and sharp jaw.He’s kind of cute.
“I know,” Nox smirked, making my heart skip a beat.
My eyes went wide as I questioned my sanity and whether I had accidentally said that aloud. Nox broke into a chuckle, shaking his head at me.
“Don’t worry,” his eyes sparkling with his smile, “I can’t read your mind. But I can take a pretty good guess that you were thinking about me.”
My cheeks burned and I flipped him off only causing him to chuckle more, before laying down on his side so that we were eye level.
“You’re either really hungry or really freaking brave,” he softly laughed, his eyes never leaving my own.
I would usually tell him to stop staring, but by the way he was looking at me I could tell it wasn’t because he was focusingon my deformity. It was like he was trying to decode the secrets in my soul, and my eyes were the key.Thank fuck that’s all just poetic bullshit.
“Probably the first one,” I shrugged. “I mean, your mom’s food is fucking to die for.”
He rolled his eyes, his face suddenly becoming serious. “For real though, you’re seriously awesome.”
I scoffed and rolled onto my back to face the ceiling.
“Whatever,” I mumbled.
“No, Shy. I’m being serious.” He pushed onto his elbows so that he was hovering over me. “You are so brave, incredibly freaking smart, like, not just because you helped me understand algebra.” I rolled my eyes. “And strong. Literally you could totally beat my ass. But also, mentally. You’re handling shit I can’t even begin to comprehend and I’m honestly in awe of how you do it.”
I chewed on my lip, my chest suddenly feeling warm and my nose tingling like I was going to cry.Stop being a fucking weak-ass puta.
“Hey, don’t cry,” his eyes gazed at me softly. “I don’t want you to be in pain. I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
I cleared my throat, trying to get the feeling to pass.
“Sorry,” I mumbled. “I just…no one’s ever said that to me.”
“Well, I hope you believe it,” he smiled at me, after a brief look of surprise.
I didn’t respond, mostly because I wanted to keep my fucking mouth from spilling anything else. I was too comfortable around him. Enoch made me feel like I could tell him anything and I desperately wanted to.
It took almost all I had to not let everything that’s happened to me fill the silence between us. I felt relaxed when I was with him. Something I didn’t think I’d ever felt before. Not even withSeb or Javi. There was just something I couldn’t explain about the sense of safety Enoch seemed to wash over me like waves.
And the worst fucking part was that I didn’t deserve any of it, yet I was the weakest fucking puta for pretending that I did. God, if he knew what I’d done, who I was…he wouldn’t be calling me any of those words.
“So,” he said, making me look back to his brown eyes. “Did you want to do something, or we could take a nap?”
I raised my brow at him, completely thrown off by his suggestion of a nap.
