Page 282 of The Invite
Every now and then, he glances to study me with artistic eyes. It’s not because he needs help remembering my features. He knows them by heart. Every little detail. From the shape and color of the freckles on my face to the thin scar near my hip bone.
I know it because I challenged him to draw me without peeking.
He did it within minutes, leaving me amazed and teary-eyed. I never knew love like this existed. Not outside of fairy tales, at least.
Augustus puts the pencil down and pins me with his gaze. “Come here.”
Smirking, I slowly crawl toward him. A little payback for earlier. His expression narrows, as he runs his tongue between his teeth. As I climb down the bed and straddle his lap, one arm bands around my waist possessively.
Trailing wet kisses from my breast to the sensitive skin below my ear, he nips the flesh. “Brat.”
I tilt my head down and lock my lips with his, coaxing them open. I sigh when I push my tongue inside and swirl it with his. Caressing his square jaw, I suck his bottom lip before pulling back to gaze at his lap.
My black-and-white face peers back at me.
I never feel more beautiful than when I see myself through Augustus’s eyes. I graze the sketch with my fingertips, in awe at how gifted my boyfriend is. “You were serious.”
“About?”
“Drawing me every single day.”
“I want to capture our happily ever after as we spend the rest of our lives together living it.”
“Won’t you get bored?” I tease.
Rising from the chair with my front flush against him and my legs wrapped around his hips, he takes us both down on the bed. Leaning down until our temples touch and his breath gusts over mine, he murmurs, “A man never stops being obsessed with his muse, little prey.”
***
“The others will be here soon,” informs Augustus after we get out of the shower.
My eyes pop open as he stops drying my hair with a towel. Since Ace and Maverick came to save us that night, shortly before the cops and the ambulance arrived, Augustus and I have been cooped away from the world at Maverick’s cabin.
The very next day, the news of the attack was all over the town. I had experienced the media’s suffocating scrutiny once before and didn’t want a repeat of it. When I was discharged from the hospital, Augustus brought me to this cabin that’s on a secluded property.
Both of us only wanted to be with each other.
It was his presence that kept the nightmares away. I told him everything. How I was under the witness protection program, my parents being serial killers, and working with the FBI. I know now they always wanted to use me as bait to draw out my mother.
I also confessed about Detective Arjun and how they’re looking into his uncle’s murder. I haven’t been approached again but that doesn’t mean they won’t come to me in the future. The danger to the Grayson family is real.
“Are you ready to do this?” Augustus softly asks.
“Yes. I want to put it all behind us.”
It’ll be the first time the group will be meeting after The Massacre Ball. No idea how they’ll react.
Augustus and I finish getting dressed. When we reach downstairs ten minutes later, Maverick is already there and helping himself in the kitchen.
He turns around at the sound of us.
“Turkey sandwich?” He gestures at the plate.
The doorbell rings.
“Go eat.” Augustus nudges my ass. “I’ll get the door.”
I walk over to the island and grab a sandwich, taking a bite. It’s delicious, or maybe I’m just too hungry. I’ve scarfed down one by the time Augustus returns and stands next to me. Behind him trails Kaid, Wolf, and Capri.
