Page 78 of House of Bass

I nodded with such enthusiasm, like a bobblehead. He used the key that hung off the bracelet like a charm and inserted it into the hole in the locket. It opened to reveal a picture of us both, from my birthday two weeks prior, wearing the pink dress I refused to take off for days, hugging.

My eyes began to water again and I had to fight the tears that would've fallen because I knew Arden would keep his threat to not hand it to me.

He put the necklace around my neck and the bracelet on his wrist. “It doesn’t work without my key. This way when you look at it, remember that I’ll always come back to open it for you.”

“Iloveitiloveitiloveit,” I spluttered out in a rush and hugged him. He let out an oomph from the way I jumped him but he chuckled and patted my hair as we stayed in that position.

“I’ll miss you.”

“Me too, Saint. Me too.”

I launch back to the present when his hand reaches out and gently touches it. “You’re wearing it.”

“Not because of you,” I say lying through my teeth. “I found it while cleaning and thought, ‘ Cute, let me put it on .’” Turning around, expecting him to let himself inside, but not before catching his smile. Not a smirk or a half-smile but a full blown grin. And I hate myself for how much I love it.

Arden follows me all the way to the kitchen as I pour myself a cup of water, “Is there a reason you’re at my house at nine o’clock in the morning? You have no classes today, don’t you sleep?”

“Sleep is for those with no plan for their lives.” He perches himself onto a stool and waves me off when I offer him water, “I have a proposition for you.”

I raise an eyebrow, skeptical but signal for him to go ahead. “Go on a trip with me. I’ll have you back by Friday morning.”

My head shakes at once, “You don't think people are going to notice if we’re both missing. At exactly the same time.”

“Maybe. So?” His nonchalant attitude will be the death of me.

“So…our eagle eyed friends, which includes your girlfriend might I add, will get suspicious you fucking melon.”

“Suspicious about what?” He says it in a way that suggests he’s entirely clueless about what I am implying but he is entirely aware. From the twitch on his lips and glint in his eye, I know he is fucking with me.

I glare at him, “About us. Whatever the fuck it is we are doing together.”

He simply grins, again.

God he has to stop doing that.

My body unfortunately doesn’t know the difference between a heart attack and when I see Richard Arden Thorne smile. And that in itself is a problem. He rounds the table and gently caresses my face, cupping it but pushes my cheeks into a pout instead drawing me into a kiss. “We have a flight to catch.”

I push him away in anger, but he wraps a hand around my waist and finally draws me near. My cheeks heat up as he bites my pout. Then I kiss him, like I can’t breathe without him and he kisses me back in exactly the same way.

I am pathetic. This is pathetic. How I let him sink his claws into me without nary a fight. It was easy to forget when I was with him, my life and everything in it, even if it was just for a moment.

✧✧✧

“You should go.” A voice jumps me out of my thoughts and I see Harley leaning against my door with her arms folded. She enters the room and joins me on the floor. It is becoming all too frequent for us to find ourselves in this position.

“You know.” A statement, not a question.

“Obviously. The two of you are about as discreet as a cow,” she says facing the ceiling, ignoring the way my eyes bore into her. Her curly hair flattens on the ground, surrounding her face. Panic rises, if she can guess it does that mean others can as well?

She turns towards me, “Calm your tits. I’m around you all the time. It isn’t hard to put the pieces together.”

“Oh.” I’m perceptive enough to grasp that she probably wanted to bestow me with some sage advice, so I ask, “What do you think?”

“What do I think of what ?”

“Of the two of us. It’s a bad idea right? Me and him.”

“Of course it's a bad idea. But why should that mean you shouldn't do it? We don’t decide who we like, it just happens.”