Willan lets me rearrange us before answering. He shrugs like it’s no big deal, but I can see the vulnerability in his eyes when he finally looks at my face as he confesses.
“I may or may not have had a giant, raging, completely embarrassing crush on you as a kid.”
Well. Shiver my timbers. “Reeeeeeeally?” I draw the word out playfully and the red flush of Willan’s cheeks intensifies, along with the racing of his heart, making my teeth ache.
Willan huffs and crosses his arms over his chest. Fuck me, but he’s cute when he’s pouting.
“Oh, grow up.” He huffs again and grabs a small, decorative cushion and clutches it to himself protectively. “Youhadto have known. I tried to hide it, but I was a kid. And absolutely pathetic about it.”
“Nope. Never had a clue.” Grin nearly splitting my face, I squeeze his arm to take the sting out of my teasing. “Tell me more about how you were in love with me.”
Willan squawks—there’s no other word for the sound that comes out of his mouth—in indignation and launches at me with the cushion, playfully hitting me with it. Laughing wildly, more joy filling me than I think I’ve ever felt in my life, I wrestle him back, trying to get the pillow from him.
We end up play fighting and laughing until our faces are wet with tears, and Willan is breathless. That’s when I use his weakness against him, snatching him up in my arms and hauling him halfway into my lap while he struggles to get control of his rasping breathing. I make sure to pluck the cushion from his lax grip and toss it to the nearby armchair.
With his back to my front, Willan has to twist to face me. Beneath my hand on his chest, I can feel his heart racing a million miles an hour. It only thuds harder when our eyes lock on each other and all our walls come crashing down. Deeply rooted affection, lust, and longing swirl in Willan’s tear-stained eyes.
Maybe we are just as oblivious as Kai and Finn.
“I’m not exactly ready to say what this is, especially with everything else that comes with it. But there’s something here isn’t there?” I cave to the need to voice what I’m feeling.
“Yeah. There is.”
The tension in Willan’s back eases away, until he’s relaxed completely against me. He fits perfectly. Pulling my eyes away from the hypnotising sight of his lips, I have one last thing to ask of him.
“I don’t want to hide what we’re doing. But can we… I don’t know how to say it without being the fucking worst.” My arms tighten around him, and Willan squeezes back.
“Not play it up so we don’t have to explain how we reconnected and therefore all the magic stuff.” Willan easily finds the words I can’t.
“How do you keep doing that?”
“I told you, Nikolo, I got you.”
Fuck the status quo. With a groan, I surrender. Willan meets me halfway, and our lips meet as if they’re magnetised. It’s not just a kiss, it’s a promise. Of what, I’m just not sure yet, but I know that it’s right.
“So you and Willan are… friends now?” Kai readjusts the strap on his toga and fluffs out his skirt, admiring himself in the mirror. Surprisingly, everyone’s gotten involved for toga night tonight. All the staff are dressed up, and it’s not even a holiday. Sure, it means seeing Belinda flirting with Lifo about how his legs look in a skirt, but overall it’s worth it.
“That’s what I’ve said.” I level him with a look. “Repeatedly.”
“I know. But I’m just trying to, like, understand. The last I heard, you guys were just going to talk out your stuff.”
“We’ve…we’ve been hanging out.” I say in a small voice, nodding at Erod, the security guard who’s popped their head in to tell me doors are about to open for the night and there’s already a line to get in. When I turn back to Kai, he’s frowning at me with a puzzled look on his face. “What?”
“Well. It makes sense that you’ve hung out if you’re suddenly cool or whatever. Buthanging out? Plural? When? Why didn’t I know? Why wasn’t I invited?”
It would be easy to assume Kai is just being self-involved—and he kind of is—but beneath all his flamboyant vanity, I know it’s actually because he cares. And because I care about him, Iwant to be honest. I’m nervous, though, toying with the pleats on my skirt.
“Well. Um. Uh.” I stammer, then haul myself together. “We’ve been reconnecting about mage stuff.”
“Like, magic?” Kai’s head cocks to the side like he’s doing complicated maths. “How?”
“It’s hard to explain.I’mnot doing magic. I’m just… there.”
Kai stares at me long and hard and I’m once again grateful I’ve never really been a blusher. Not like Kai’s Finn who still somehow manages it despite the whole magically undead thing.
“Well. This explains where you’ve been lately, I guess.” There is definitely still a tinge of hurt there, even as he says, “but I’m happy if you’re happy.”
“I’m happy.” I say with a nod. Kai’s grin spreads over his face, turning him from smouldering hot to devastatingly sexy. “And I’m sorry for not mentioning it. It’s not like it was a secret or anything… it was just… I needed…”
