Page 47 of At the Edge with You

I’m met with silence, and when I look over my shoulder, my sweet grandmother is glaring at me. “In whose eyes? Theirs, hers, or yours?”

I press my lips together and admit, “All three?”

“Jett Thomas, come on.”

“What?” I ask incredulously. It’s not her fault I’m in my feelings, but she’s always been my safe space, and I allow the resentment into my voice. “What can I offer her? She has a lifeoutside of this place, and she’s leaving. The only reason I keep her attention is because she’s forced to stay here.”

Hazel doesn’t seem convinced, and she comes around to look down at me. While her brow is set in a hard line, her eyes are full of love for me. Pride and understanding. “It could never be that she’s attracted to you, huh? That’s why you have her attention.”

“That’s a given. I’m not hard to look at.”

I flash her a smile full of teeth, and she laughs. “No, you’re not. But I think she’s attracted to way more than your looks.” When I shrug, she wipes my skin again. “And I’ll tell you what you can offer her—your beautiful heart.”

“Nana,” I murmur, rolling my eyes. “You sound like Mom.”

“Where do you think she gets it?” she asks, grinning. “You two aren’t kids anymore. Twenty years have gone by, my dearest. Leave the past where it belongs and explore what could be between you two now. Work with her. You two have always been the best together, not apart.”

I press my lips together. I know I sure as hell could offer more emotionally than the idiots she’s been with. I would never allow her to feel like she’s a robot or use her therapy against her. I adore how unruly she can be. It gets me harder than steel. I love how her brain works, how even with a guide in the form of the notes and Post-its she’s written, she still confuses herself and gets off subject. Never knowing what I’m about to get is a thrill only she can give me.

I think Fable Winthrop is perfect, just as she is.

Hazel waits for an answer or maybe for me to confirm that I will work with Fable, but a knock at the door captures our attention. I bring in my brows as Hazel lays down her gun before going to the door and pulling it open. When she looks back at me, her brown eyes are bright and knowing as she beams at me. “Fable, such a welcome surprise. Are your ears burning?”

Hazel is met with silence as I shake my head in amusement. “No. Are they red?” Fable asks.

Hazel just laughs, and I can’t help but chuckle too. Fable enters the room in a pair of black leggings and an oversized Ice Thistle shirt. The green of the material makes her moss eyes shine brighter than any forest I’ve ever seen, and I find myself drooling at the sight. Her hair is back in two little braided pigtails, looking entirely adorable while still sexy as fuck. Her thighs strain the fabric of her leggings, and I know if she turned around, I’d have to fight back the urge to bite her thick ass.

Even with my need for her, though, I furrow my brows. Hazel may not notice, but I can see how tense Fable’s shoulders are. How she is trying to make herself look smaller. She’s looking anywhere but at Hazel. Even her hands are shaking.

Something is up.

“Oh, then I don’t know why they’d be burning,” she says, hugging my grandmother. I sit up and watch as Fable looks my grandmother over before glancing at me. “Oh, are you busy? I can come back.”

Hazel pulls off her gloves. “No worries. I’m done.”

Fable uncrosses her fingers and crosses them once more. “I need to get you to do a tattoo for me.”

Hazel’s brows pull in. “A tattoo? On you?”

Fable’s face breaks into a grin, some of the tension leaving her shoulders, and my mind is firing off.

Twenty tattoos, six piercings.

I don’t know which of those numbers I want to trace with my tongue first, but the number of piercings is in the lead. I’m convinced she has her belly button done twice and then two in each nipple, but a part of me thinks that my ice princess may be a naughty queen and her pussy is pierced.

I will die.

D.E.A.D.

If the latter is the truth.

Or that’s what I would have thought would happen because, without warning, Fable pulls her leggings down a bit, showing off not only her ink but a lacy string that is barely there along her hip. My mouth goes dry, and I know this is the moment I perish. At the sight of Fable showing off parts of her ass and hip.

Parts I so desperately want.

Hazel leans in, sounds of excitement and awe leaving her lips as she runs her fingers along Fable’s skin.

And just like that, I’m jealous of my nana.

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