Page 87 of Reflections of Peonies
As Miles said, it was only sleeping. He’d been next to me on a chair last night. Julian and Titus had already been in bed with me.
I was normal. We had agreed that flirting was okay.
Besides, how could I explain? My face grew hot as I stared at his arm. “Being with you makes me feel safe.”
Much safer than sleeping alone. On the nights that I’d been with them, I never had any nightmares.
“That’s because you are,” he said, picking up a tan and brown crocheted afghan. He wrapped it over my shoulders until it covered me head to toe, and I peeked at him through the gap near my face.
“I’ll finish my training soon,” he promised. “I only have one last project. Then I’ll be able to keep up. I’ll take care of you this time. You’ll wait for me?”
But nothing was wrong with him. Still, he was so sincere that I could only nod.
“I just want to wrap you up and keep you safe forever,” he said, squeezing his hands down my arms over the blanket. “I would never do anything to hurt you.”
My heart was beating so fast at the sweet expectation in his eyes, and I nodded again. “T-thank you,” I said.
He lowered his face to mine, touching me nose to nose, before he wrapped his hands around my waist, picked me up, and set me back on the bed. “I won’t touch you,” he said solemnly. “So make sure you get lots of sleep.”
I gripped at the corners of the blanket as Miles crawled into bed beside me, but when he proceeded to plaster himself along the very edge, furthest from me, my trepidation faded. He’d turned off the bright overhead light, and a soft orange glow filled the room as a cluster of mushroom lamps illuminated the space. It wasn’t long before his snoring filled the room, and my eyes shut as I drifted off into a relaxed slumber.
I’d reachedfor Miles sometime in the middle of the night, but my dreams were so soft it hardly mattered. I was aware of him waking, a short stiffening of his frame against mine, but he slipped away so gently that I drifted back to sleep.
When I woke up next, I was slightly more offended at how quickly he’d run away. Was it truly that terrifying to snuggle? It hadn’t been that long ago when he’d been dragging me around by a jacket. Now he seemed to think I had cooties.
Men.
However, his intentions were of no consequence. And outside of a quiet, lonely breakfast of marshmallow cereal, I hadn’t seen anyone else around the entire morning.
I’d been abandoned and forced to spend time alone, readingThe Hobbitin the living room. How was that for welcoming?
Well, except for Finn. He was clicking away on his computer, clearly watching me occasionally. But he didn’t count as decent companionship. It made me sick to look at him, sitting around as if he hadn’t single-handedly destroyed our beautiful duo. We’d had such a good thing going, too.
“Stop thinking mean things about me,” he said, pausing his movements over the keys.
“What?” I leaned back. How did he know what I was thinking?
He sighed. “We’re going to have to discuss things sometime.”
Since he wasn’t in danger of being put to death, at least not any time soon, my sympathies toward him had vanished. “No, we don’t.”
“Hi, Bianca.” Brayden peeked into the room with a grin. “Sorry I’m late! I had some things to take care of, but I’m ready for you now.”
“Huh?” I blinked at the curly-haired man.
“Finn was supposed to tell you.” Brayden’s gaze flickered over to Finn, who didn’t have the decency to look ashamed. “You have a lesson with me today. Did he not mention it?”
“No.” I frowned at Finn. How could he do this to me? He knew I hated surprises. “What lesson?”
“This is your fault,” Finn said as he smoothly returned his attention to his laptop. “I could have told you if you were talking to me.”
I growled under my breath as I clenched my fists in my lap.
Was he trying to make me hate him? He knew how important this was to me. He’d gone out of his way to put me on the spot, making me look unprepared and tarnishing my reputation with one of my older brothers.
If this were anyone else, I’d say this was done deliberately. He was trying to get under my skin so I wouldn’t forget about him. Hate was, after all, a powerful emotion.
But that was impossible. Finn lacked any emotional depth, and he cared about no one.
