Page 111 of Somnium

Something in Elias sat up, ready to fight at the way Cadi shrank back. The need to protect her nearly pulled him from his chair even though he knew she wasn’t in danger. Sera was just being Sera. Still, his fuse was short, and he couldn’t stop his hand from forming a reflexive fist. The silence made the pressure that had started to build behind his ribs nearly unbearable. He needed to do something, anything, to keep from stepping between them.

“When can we get them?” he asked with a slight shake in his voice.

“Tomorrow,” Sera replied, “I have a friend who owns a shop. She can get us everything we need.”

“She can do it that soon?” Cadi asked.

Sera winked at her. “For me? Anything.”

Cadi laughed, and a sly glint lit her eyes as her shoulders softened. Elias leaned back when he felt his own tension begin to recede, his body still sharply attuned to even the slightest shift in hers.

Sera slid the small piece of paper back toward him. “You hold on to this; it won’t be perfect since it isn’t sealed to you, but it should slow him down for tonight so you can get some sleep.”

He picked up the paper, holding it as if it were the most valuable thing he’d ever touched. Until his gaze moved to Cadi. Okay, maybe the second most valuable.

“I’ll draw one up for you, too,” Sera said to her, turning in her chair.

Cadi shook her head.

“I don’t think I want to be alone just yet,” she said. Her eyes caught on his.

Elias froze, and the delicate flutter in his chest seemed to perk up with its own excitement at the thought of Cadi back in his arms. Until she pulled her gaze away to look back at Sera.

“Can I stay at your place again?”

Sera’s eyes were soft, and Elias didn’t miss the way they slid to him for a moment, the smallest hint of sadness in her smile as she nodded. “Of course.”

The three of them stood from the table, then wound through the steadily growing crowd to the front. As Elias stepped out onto the sidewalk, the cold air cleared the dizzying fumes of coffee and sugar from his head. He turned back and leaned down to drag Sera into a warm embrace.

“Thanks,” he whispered.

She gave his back a rough pat. “I got you, dude.”

The light down the street turned green, releasing the line of cars to come speeding toward them. Elias shifted instinctively to position himself between Cadi and the busy road. He hadn’t even registered his own movement until he heard her pull in a breath as she flinched away.

He stepped back and threw his hands behind his head where they couldn’t possibly reach for her, his stomach sinking as he waited for confirmation that he’d just ruined what little progress they might have made. “Shit. I’m sorry. I didn’t⁠—”

“No, it’s okay,” she said, but the clear distress in her voice betrayed her.

A stiff silence hung between them, broken only by the steady crunch of tires against asphalt, and Elias didn’t dare speak.

Cadi cast a thoughtful glance between him and Sera, like she was carefully weighing something in her mind. After a moment, she leaned over and whispered to Sera, then nodded when their friend raised her eyebrows in silent question. Sera looked at Elias, then back to Cadi before taking a slow step backward.

“I’ll see you in a bit,” she said to Cadi, giving her a pointed look as she popped in her ear buds and turned toward her apartment, leaving them alone on the sidewalk.

Elias shifted his weight, his heart pounding as he watched Cadi pick at her nail polish. He knew that habit. He knew all of her habits and could read each one like a guide that told him exactly which wheels were turning in her mind. Right now she was looking for the right way to say something.

He felt every one of his muscles tense when she looked up at him and took a small step forward. “Walk me to my car?”

His shoulders relaxed and he nodded before falling into step beside her, making sure to shorten his long strides to match hers as they walked. At his sides, his fingers twitched. Her hand was close enough to touch, separated from his by the smallest distance that still somehow felt like a chasm.

When they reached her car, she stood on the sidewalk to dig through her bag. As he watched her, a slow pang began to grow at how normal this should have been. Him waiting beside her while she searched endlessly for her keys. She was always losing her keys.

Their faint jingle sliced into him, signaling the end of their brief time together. It had come too fast. There was so much he needed to say, but only one word felt strong enough to keep her with him just a little longer.

“Cadi.”

She looked up, her hand stilled in her purse.