"Oh!" she squealed with delight. "We have a boyfriend! Kiss him!"
Keir chuckled. "Yeah, kiss me."
So I grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him down, doing justthat. Aspen grabbed my arm, giggling at us both, which made me smile too hard to keep kissing. I tried, but Keir wasn't any better.
"You're not helping!" he chuckled, glancing over to Aspen. "Rain, kiss her!"
So I leaned towards her, lifting my chin. Aspen immediately took the offer, but her kiss was as wild as she was, intense and amazing. Letting go of Keir, I grabbed her arm, holding her close, and held her there as long as I could.
Much too soon, she pulled back, wearing a sweet, soft smile. "When are you two going to tell the court?"
"Mm..." Keir shifted to lay beside me instead of on top of me. "I think when I get back to my room. I can handle telling the guys if you promise you'll make sure she eats?"
"I got fruit, and flowers, cake, pie, and Hawke made me bring her fajitas. He said she needs the meat too."
Keir made a face. "Yep, that's my sign. I'm out." And he rolled off the bed. "Take care of our girlfriend, Aspen."
"My brother's going to be pissed, you know," she called after him.
Keir just grinned. "Sucks to be him." Then his eyes moved to me. "Text me, Rain. Even if it's the middle of the night. I happen to know someone who can open a gate." And he pointed at Aspen. "If you need me, Iwillbe here. Always."
Aspen barely waited until he closed the door behind him, then leaned in to rest her head on my shoulder. "Gah, I like him. I'm so glad you picked him, Rain."
"I'm so glad I picked you," I told her, turning so I could steal her lips. "So you know, all of this? It makes me the happiest girl in the world."
"Yeah," she breathed, kissing me again quickly. "Me too. Now eat!"
Chapter Sixty-Four
RAIN
By the end of the week, I was ready to get back to class. Sure, days off were fun and all, but five in a row? With all my friends stuck in school without me? That made it a lot less exciting. My books helped, but Keir had been spending his evenings with me while Aspen vanished to give us privacy.
And that sucked. I liked the three of us together, but I understood. Aspen wasn't exactly into guys. She also said she had to practice control with Torian. He'd flubbed a spell - er, conjuration - when the Huntsman had been coming at us. They both wanted to make sure it never happened again, and with their days as full as mine usually were? After class was their only time free for it.
Jack was getting used to other people taking him down to the atrium for a flight. Once, Keir even took him outside to check on the crows out there. Jack came back chattering about it, and while his tone sounded happy, I got exactly nothing from his caws and rattles.
In other words, I was going crazy being on "sick leave." So when Hawke showed up with my lunch on Friday, I was ready to beg him to take me to the gym. Instead, he pulled out a little bag and set it on my desk beside my meal. The cardboard container smelled good. It also smelled suspiciously like chicken. A smaller one was beside it.
"What did you bring?" I asked.
"Well, the lunch ladies were worried about you two, so I have an entire selection of human foods, the little one is for Jack, and the bag is a game."
"What?" I was with him right up until that last part.
"I showed Bracken I had a cough, and asked if I could be excused." He pushed one out to demonstrate, and yeah, it sounded very fake, but itwasdefinitely a cough. "He agreed it wasn't good and said I should probably take the afternoon off." Hawke grinned. "So I thought I could teach you a fae version of a board game. Well, more like checkers, really."
"Really?" I asked.
"On one condition," he said. "The thing with Keir..."
"Is real?" I guessed, not sure if that was what he was asking about.
"And you're good with it?"
I nodded.
"Ah." He turned, pulling out my chair. "Cool. You two are cute." But his eyes avoided me completely.
