Page 49 of Wonder
He swept an arm out. “This way. There’s a place that doesn’t mind serving me as long as I get my food through the takeout window.” He must’ve seen my scowl because he made an aborted gesture as if he were about to pat my arm, but he didn’t end up touching me. “It’s better than the people who scream like I’m going to spit on them or whatever they imagine.” He rolled his eyes.
We walked for a few minutes, dodging other pedestrians. “Oh, shit.” I squeezed his arm, ignoring his gasp. Did no one touch him anymore? “I’m so rude. My name is Simon.”
He grinned wide, his teeth white against the inflamed redness of his gums. “Hi, Simon. I’m Davi. It’s nice to meet you.”
CHAPTER 13
RENO
“Uh, what the fuck?”This was bad, very bad.
Simon scooted over so he was more sitting next to me than hugging me around my middle. He rubbed his sternum. “I think the bond is trying to fix itself, and it needs us to keep the skin-to-skin contact.”
“Fucking hell.” I examined our magical cores again. They were still trying to hogtie themselves to each other with tendrils of magic. “I’m so sorry. This is my fault.” I’d gone into this thinking the bond was something Ihadto do, not something I wanted.
Simon shook his head as he looked down, and his hair fell over his face like a curtain between us. “I feel like I pressured you into it.” Guilt came through the bond, loud and clear.
Oh, hell, no. Simon was the last person to blame for this fiasco. I put my arm around him. “It wasn’t you. It was the situation.” Hopefully he could feel my sincerity. “Do you think... do you think you should cut the bond now? Would it be easier?” I was strangely reluctant to suggest that, but it was only logical.
He hesitated. “Maybe? But I think you should try calling a vision before I do anything with the bond.”
I scrunched up my face. I didn’t have much hope that it’d work, but Simon was right. We’d gotten this far, so I might as well give it a shot. “Okay. But I want to get cleaned up first.”
We held hands as we got out of bed and shuffled into the bathroom. “The shower will be easiest.” I turned it on to heat up, then I froze. “Um, I need to....” I waved in the direction of the toilet.
“Ah.” The bond helpfully informed me that Simon was experiencing sympathy, mild embarrassment, amusement, and awkwardness. His face, however, didn’t convey any of those things. He just smiled and gestured for me to lead the way.
The toilet was in one of those little tiny rooms with a door on it, which I’d always imagined would be convenient if you had to take a shit while your significant other was getting ready for their day. I was beyond grateful all I had to do was piss right then. At least I could stand with my back to Simon while he hung out in the doorway with his hand on my shoulder.
As I released my bladder, I tried to picture the best way for Simon to stand if I had to sit on the toilet sometime in the next several hours. I’d decided the best pose would be where he put his hand on the top of my head and turned to face the rest of the bathroom when he started laughing.
“Oh, shit. Could you see that?” I flushed the toilet and, red-faced, shoved him out into the area in front of the sinks, making sure to keep hold of his wrist.
His grin was huge, and his eyes were sparkling. My embarrassment vanished as I took in his gorgeousness. He wiped his eyes. “I’m sorry. I was trying to remember what I’d learned about imperfect bonds, when my mind was suddenlyfilled with this image of you on the toilet, and my hand on your head.” He started laughing again, doubling over and putting his free hand on his knee.
“Fuck off. I was trying to solve a future problem.”
Still smiling, he pulled me into a hug and kissed my lips. Something fluttered in my chest, and I was just starting to sink into it when he stiffened, and his eyes went wide. “Is this okay?”
I hugged him back. “It’s fine. I like it. You can kiss me anytime.” Because I was a fucking hypocrite, wanting Simon to kiss me while asking him to sever our bond.
We got in the shower, and while I thought I could’ve talked Simon into some naked shenanigans, both of us felt the clock ticking. I needed to call a vision.
Showers had always helped me think through problems. Simon was washing my hair while I lathered up his chest when I came up with a possible solution to the have-to-be-touching-all-the-time issue. “Hey, you know that thing you did in the park, where you put a kink in our connection so it wasn’t visible to the other vampires?”
“Yeah?” He guided me under the spray to rinse my hair.
“What if you did that to our bond? Would it let us be apart from each other?”
He frowned as I helped him rinse himself off. “It would, but I don’t think I could hold it for very long; it would take a lot of energy. And I’m not sure what effect it would have on a bond like ours, since it’s already kind of twisted up.”
Well, crap. “Okay, just a thought.”
We got out and dried off, then we put our clothes back on, which required some gymnastics so we could maintain physical contact. We did figure out that the bond didn’t mind a layer of fabric between us, which would make things easier.
I checked the clock. Fuck, it was only a little after 10:00 a.m. It felt like a lifetime had passed since I’d woken up this morning. “Okay. I want to lay down. I’m going to meditate for a few minutes, then call the vision.”
“Where do you want me?” Simon, who’d been holding onto my wrist, rubbed his thumb along the inside of my forearm. I shivered.
