Me. Giggling.
He had my little stuffed polar bear cub dancing on my stomach, using that cute tone he had during his first time in my suite weeks ago to make him talk, giving Nuvri a voice.
He went to slide my tank up, but I slapped my hand down over it. “Nuh-uh. He can’t see me like that.”
Zayn chuckled. “What about when you undress to get in your pajamas, or getting dressed after a shower?”
I lifted a shoulder. “I do it in the bathroom.”
“He’s been here when the four of us have fooled around and fucked before.”
“Yeah, but never facing it or being in view of it.”
“That’s right. Come to think of it, whenever we’ve found him in the bed afterward, he’s always been turned toward the pillows, or sometimes under the bed itself.”
“A flick of my magic gets it done.”
“You’re too cute, you know that?”
“Me?Cute?Never.”
“Hey, that doesn’t take away from your fierce dragon warrior status. You can be cute alongside that.”
“Maybe just between the four of us, then.”
“Deal.”
He put Nuvri down and settled him on the bed against a pillow.
Then as I pushed up against the headboard, Zayn situated himself between my spread legs and placed the papers I’d given him against my jean-clad thigh. With a clear of his throat, he took on a very serious tone and said, “All right. Back down to business, then. Exalt’s modus operandi. Mission statement? Sounds more chill, right? The second one?”
“Yeah,” I said, beaming out at him.
He’d been so considerate when I’d told him I was a little nervous about the meeting I’d set today. Exalt was moving into some new territory, escalating, basically. And it had to be perfect. I had to get this down. So he’d sat with me for the last two hours talking it out, coaxing me to practice with a mock meeting run-through.
He was supposed to be studying while I read over my notes and prepped quietly, but when he’d noticed my nervous state, he’d insisted. Such a sweetheart.
Vaxan wouldn’t be attending today. He was making space for me to assert a surefire leadership position and he felt him being there would interfere with that in these early stages. I suppose he had a point. He did have a natural commanding edge, a very powerful leadership aura, and combined with him being six years older, and everyone knowing and respecting that fact at a place like Loxley full of younger students, it carried a lot of weight. He was off campus instead right now, investigating for Winter. Again.
Winter was conducting a Ruminat again, something he’d been doing a lot of since he’d begun training with his dad.He was really pushing himself. Zayn, Vax, and I would be convincing him to take a break soon, though, even for a day.
“You get that you’ve actually already got all this stuff down, right?” Zayn said.
“Almost, I think. We did spend two hours on it.”
“No. Fuck, no. Even before that. When I was testing you on it, you didn’t falter once. You even gave a whole paragraph-long answer each time, not just the one-liner that would’ve been sufficient. And Vax told me and Win about the other couple of meetings you’ve already led. He said you were“commanding the room in a firm, powerful, but approachable way, and demonstrating passion and a deep knowledge of the intricacies involved in spearheading such an initiative”. Those were his exact words. And even though he's ours and obviously deeply into you, he doesn’t just throw out stuff like that. I’m saying that’s how impressive you areandthat you’ve got this. Big time, Evira.”
I stared out at him.
Wild pink hair, all those chaotic tattoos on display with him in a silver-and-gold checked tank. And of course, the tight pants, these ones black jeans with tassels all over them. And then the fuzzy white socks, his shoes by my door. Winter had told me that Zayn only took his shoes off when we hung in my dorm room.
“What?” he asked.
A grin spread over my face. “Thank you, Zayn. That was amazing.”
He lifted a shoulder. “Just calling it like it is.”
I reached out and took his hand in mine.
