Page 38 of Styx & Stones

“It’s fine; I have others. I’m just too lazy to get up.”

“Right.”

“Is there somewhere I can change?”

“Bathroom’s across the hall. Or you can change here.”

My brows shoot skyward. “Here’s fine, I guess. Just cover your eyes.”

Styx rolls his eyes instead, and then he makes a show of covering them, as if I just asked him to clean his room. I take a second to make sure he’s not peeking and then I turn around and strip off my jeans and boots. I take off my jacket and T-shirt and throw his on. I lift the fabric to my nose and smell the soft, worn cotton.Styx. It’s so odd that someone who was a stranger to me just two months ago can be such a comfort.

I debate removing my bra, but the shirt is far too see-through for that. I turn around. Styx’s peeking through his fingers. I grab the cushion at the foot of the bed and toss it at him.

“You said you wouldn’t look.”

“I said no such thing.”

I replay our conversation in my head. He’s right. He never promised anything. “Asshole.”

“Come on. There’s a hot, half-naked girl in my room, and I’m not gonna look? I thought you knew me better than that.”

I jump on the bed and punch him in the arm.

He holds his hands up in surrender. “Ow! Ow! Jesus, woman. What are you on, ’roids or something?”

“You suck.” I climb under the covers and press my freezing hands against his naked chest.

“Holy shit, Elsa. Can you keep your fuckin’ ice-queen hands to yourself?”

“That’s a first. Can’t say I’ve ever had a guy ask me to stop touching him.”

“Well, get used to it if you’re going to insist on freezing me to death.”

My teeth chatter, and Styx pulls me close. I rest my head in the crook of his arm and snuggle in while he strokes my hair. “Styx?”

“Yeah?”

“You think I’m hot?”

“Your cancer doesn’t affect your ability to see, right?”

“No.”

“And you have mirrors in your house?”

“Shut up.” I slap his chest. He flinches.

“You first.” He grabs a fistful of my hair and gives it a playful tug, then he crushes me as he leans over and turns out the light. “Go to sleep, Stones.”

“I’m scared.”

“I know.”

Long seconds tick by, and the words are on the very tip of my tongue, but every time I try to speak, I can’t.

“Fuck! You’re thinking so goddamn loud I can’t sleep. What the hell is going on in that head of yours, Stones?”

This is why I came here. It’s why I didn’t head to Eleanor’s in the middle of the night, because Styx just gets it. He getsme. “Would you do it? If it was your choice to make?”

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