“Yeah, well, your life’s going to be a hell of a lot easier with me in it,” he countered, and I snorted, pressing my fingers into my eyes. Only he could make me laugh at a time like this.
“That’s not why I’m with you.”
“I know. That’s what’s so great. You really love me. Annoying, loud, impulsive, needy, clingy me.”
“You forgot whiny.”
He threw back his head and laughed, before tugging me in close again, squeezing me tightly as he pressed his lips to mine.
It felt so incredibly right with him. It had never been like that with anyone before. Nothing and no one else would ever feel right. In what was surely the most shocking twist of my young life, I belonged to Caelyx Vane, heart, body, and soul. And it didn’t scare me at all.
“Hey,” I spoke up, once he’d pulled back from our long, drawn out kiss. “You said there can’t be any more secrets between us, right?”
“None,” he promised.
“You sure there’s nothing else you want to tell me?”
“There’s nothing.”
“Okay,” I said, nodding a little as I stared up at him. “So… Do you want to get some breakfast? There’s a place right next door that has Dubai chocolate waffles right now. With lots and lots of pistachios on top.”
I watched his eyes widen, his mouth dropping open a little as he processed my words. I tilted my head, blinking at him in amock innocent way, until he burst out laughing again, dropping his head onto my shoulder and hugging me tightly.
“I’m sorry!” He groaned into my neck. “It wassocute and you were already so embarrassed. I couldn’t tell you. I would have died first.”
“Youliterallycould have died, Caelyx. I could have made something for you with pistachios and not even mentioned it!”
“I have an EpiPen, okay? I was… Willing to risk it.” When I pulled back to stare at him incredulously, he shrugged. “Now which one of us is the crazy one?”
“You,” I answered definitively. “It’s always been you.”
“And it’s always going to be me, Cupcake. I will be crazy for you for the rest of my life.”
And I didn’t have a single complaint about that.
CAELYX
EPILOGUE - ALMOST ONEYear Later
Snow fell in gentle sheets on the bustling vacation town of Aspen, Colorado. My dad had given his permission for me, the human Aspen, and our friends to temporarily inhabit one of our vacation chalets, so the eight of us had flown private out to spend the last week of winter break there. It was tucked away from all the tourists, but close enough that we could easily get down the mountain to where all the action was.
I was pretty sure the novelty of staying in the town with the same name as my boyfriend had partially helped convince him to relax and let me pay for everything, even though he’d flatly informed me he hadn’t named himself after the luxury resort town, but rather the tree species. He wasslowlygetting used to his new lifestyle, and I knew he secretly loved it, but part of him was still hesitant to totally embrace it. That was fine. We were only about a year into our relationship, so I had plenty of time to convince him that he didn’t have to pretend like he didn’t adore being my totally spoiled little Cupcake.
We’d spent the first two days skiing with the equipment stored in the cottage, and now we all needed a cozy night in to recover. Arie had, of course, taken charge and planned a bunch of stuff for us to do, which no one really minded. The itinerary graphic he’d created for all of us to follow was pink, with sparkly snowflakes and cartoon mugs of hot chocolate splashed all over it.
Stretched out sideways with my legs dangling over the arm of a cushy armchair, I watched Ren, Arie, and Che set up the start of a board game. Eight players was usually pushing it, so we’d mostly been teaming up in four teams of two, with the caveat that no one was allowed to partner with anyone they were currently fucking, to keep it more interesting. I’d teamed up with Cyprian for an in-depth trivia game, and we’d all gotten absolutely destroyed by Ren and Isaak’s team. Probably should have vetoed that pair for any intellectual-type competitions. But they’d looked so cute and proud together after winning. It was cool that Isaak had really meshed and gelled well with our group. At this point, it was basically like he’d always been around.
Aspen, Maddox, and Cyprian had gone on a quick snack run in the nice SUV we’d rented for the trip, and we were mostly just waiting for them to get back. Isaak sat at the end of a couch, totally engrossed in his phone, which wasn’t exactly usual for him. Once he’d warmed up to everyone, he was way more social than the shy and stuttering nervous wreck he’d been before. I watched him for a minute, and when he blushed, grinning in delight before biting down into his lower lip, it was obvious exactly what had him so enamored.
“You sexting with someone?” I asked bluntly, causing Arie to whirl around and follow my line of sight to him. Che’s eyebrows popped up, but he only observed.
Isaak blushed more, clearing his throat. “What? N-no!” He denied.
“What’s his name?” Arie wondered, prancing over to try and peek at the screen. Isaak quickly flipped it over to hide from his view. “Is it anyone I know?”
“Nothing! He’s no one! You don’t know him.”
“Does he go to our school?” I asked, and Isaak sighed, covering his red face with his palms.
