Page 33 of Fated to Them

“I told you I can’t go. How many times do I have to say that? And I didn’t appreciate you going behind my back and trying to use my mother to persuade me.”

“I like your mother. She seems very… what’s the word? Current with the times?”

“Current with the times?” I ask, shaking my head.

“Yes, she seems very open to a three-way relationship. Also, very open with our sexuality. It is quite refreshing.”

“Our relationship? You mean our non-relationship?” I tell him.

“Because you hated kissing me this morning,” he says, and I feel my face heat.

“No, I don’t know what came over me. I probably had too much coffee. You made me flustered,” I tell him, and he chuckles.

I pull up at Maya’s school just as the bell rings. Cyrus gets out, following me to the gate.

“You can deny it all you want, Addie, but you will agree eventually,” Cyrus says.

“To Soya City, or being with you?” I ask before rolling my eyes at his cockiness.

“Both,” he says, placing his hand on my hip and pulling me against him.

I don’t bother removing his hand, knowing it is pointless. But I also like the feel of his hands on me, not that I would tell him that. Maya comes running out excitedly.

“Mr. Cyrus, why are you here?” she asks, looking up at him.

He smiles down at her before holding out his hand, which she actually takes as we walk back to the car.

“I came with Addie,” he tells her, and she skips happily to the car.

Cyrus buckles her into her seat before climbing into the car again. I drop Maya to my mother at the surgery before coming back out to the car and heading back to work.

“Maya seems to like you two,” I tell him.

“Hmm, I don’t like people or children in general, but I do like your niece. She is quite sweet and very well-behaved, from what I have observed. She is growing on me.”

“How can you not like kids?” I ask, and he looks at me.

“I just don’t like people in general. I like you and your family. Other than that, I don’t usually bother and just stick with Eli. Eli is more of a people person. Humans annoy me.”

“Humans? You realize you are one, right?” I chuckle.

“I suppose you’re right,” he says, his lips pulling up in a smirk.

“What’s so funny?”

“If only you knew,” he says mysteriously just as my car’s Bluetooth starts ringing.

I hit the answer button, but I don’t recognize the number as it comes up on my stereo screen.

“Hello?” I ask.

They say nothing, but I can hear their breathing.

“Hello, can you hear me?” I call out again, turning the corner.

“Ada?”

I hear her breathe before she starts coughing and retching.