Page 31 of She's Mine

Alyssa shrugged. “He hasn’t likedanyoneI’ve dated in the past, I don’t see why you’d be any different.”

Hearing this made me feel alittlebetter. At least I knew if Charles Blythe disapproved of Alyssa and I being together, it likely wasn’t anything personal.

“Not that it matters,” Alyssa said, resting her head on my shoulder. “We’re still taking things slowly. Who knows what will happen when we’re no longer hiding out from the Bloodline.”

I didn’t want to push Alyssa, and scare her off or anything, but I knew once the Bloodline were caught, I wanted to continue exploring where our relationship went. I hoped she did, too.

Eager to change the subject, I reached for the laptop again, and said, “Here, do you want me to see how Brittany and Courtney are doing?”

“That would be good, thank you.”

I flipped open the laptop, loaded up social media, and quickly found the profiles of Alyssa’s friends. All the pictures were pretty much the same as the ones on Alyssa’s profile had been, featuring both women in a variety of outfits at different places like the mall, an upscale bar, and even the beach.

“Do you miss them?” I asked.

Alyssa shrugged. “Kind of. I miss spending time with them, they’ve been my friends practically my whole life. But I don’t miss all that.” She gestured to the screen and sighed. “God, how did I even keep up with it all? It looks exhausting.”

We both laughed. “So, when all the Bloodline members are caught, you won’t go back to partying every night?”

“No way. Yes, I’ll still go out and have fun with my friends, but I want to go places where I can actually hear them talking! I just want to hang out with them, like you and I do. I don’t know, maybe watch some movies, or visit a gallery or something.”

“And you think Brittany and Courtney would be up for that?” I asked, curious to get Alyssa’s insights on how she thought her friends would deal with her change of attitude.

“Well, if they’re not, maybe they’re not the type of people I want in my life anymore. My priorities have changed.”

Interested to hear more, I asked, “So, what are your priorities now?”

“Finding thatsomethingin life I’m really passionate about,” Alyssa said, then she closed the distance between us, and pressed her lips to mine. “And you.”

I pulled Alyssa’s body closer to mine, even as I pushed her back against the couch, and my hands roved over her body. Aware that Lawrence and Mavis could walk in at any moment and catch us, it wasn’t long before we moved to the bedroom, instead.

14

ALYSSA

“What are you waiting for?” David asked, as I kept checking the window impatiently.

“My art supplies should be arriving today,” I replied, already halfway to the door at the sound of a vehicle approaching.

David had set up an Amazon account with a fake name, and there was a secure drop box just on the perimeter of his property, so deliveries could be safely deposited. It was how we had fresh groceries delivered every week, too.

“Let me go out there first,” David said, rushing past me. “Itshouldbe safe, but I’m not taking any chances.”

I waited in the doorway as David surveyed the area. I heard someone deposit something heavy in the drop box, and then a car pulling away.

I was so excited to get my art supplies, but I knew not to risk stepping outside until David had checked over the package first. Even though we’d taken every precaution, someone still might have figured out who was really staying at the cabin and intercepted my delivery to replace it with something nasty.

David opened the hatch to take the package out of the drop box, and gave it a thorough inspection, before calling out, “It’s safe!”

Unable to contain my excitement any longer, I rushed down the long pathway and took the package from David, kissing him on the cheek quickly, before running back into the house with my new art supplies.

“I’ll see you at lunch,” I called, as I disappeared upstairs.

I took the package through to the room that was mine for the duration of my stay at the cabin. Although, I hadn’t used the bed for the last few nights, as I’d been sleeping with David in his, but still, all my clothes were in this room, plus I wanted space to spread out and work, without making the sleeping area untidy.

I tore into the package with reckless abandon, revealing sketch pads, both colored pencils and alcohol markers, one of those poseable figurines for accurately copying human poses, and a whole host of other supplies I needed to get started.

But even though I had all the supplies I needed, I was still lacking inspiration, so I threw open the closet. I pulled out some of my favorite outfits and hung them on the closet doors so that they were in easy view. Then, I turned on the portable TV and DVD player that were in the bedroom and loaded up the 1968 film version of Romeo and Juliet, which had won a Best Costume Design Academy Award.

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