Page 60 of Shiny Things

“Are we okay?” I asked her.

“Right here, right now, we’re fine. Perfect even. It’s when the rest of the world comes knocking that the trouble begins.”

“Then they can knock all they want. We just won’t let them in.”

I made love to her twice before we finally fell asleep. I woke her up early the next morning to make love to her again before she left for work. I knew she was heading over to my mother’s again to prep for Aunt Ginny’s party.

I cringed realizing I was going to have to attend this one. There would be no emergency meeting about the Collectors to save me from this, either. No one on the Council would dare cross my Aunt Ginny by disrupting one of her garden parties.

And at these parties, my mother and aunt never failed to force some poor girl into batting her eyes my way telling her she had a chance. There was no chance. There never really had been, but definitely not after confirming Kim as my one true mate.

In the past it’s caused some jealousy issues, and Kim has been known to ghost me after one of these parties. I made a mental note to remind myself not to engage and stay even more aloof than usual.

Even after Kim left for work, I laid around her house wishing she were still there.

I hated the idea that people in my building were gossiping about her like that. It was ridiculous, and I knew I was going to have to set the record straight soon. I just didn’t want any additional drama to surface at the party. So instead of going to talk to my family and explain my situation, I chose to ignore it and pray for the best.

Ten minutes after I arrived at the party, I knew that had been a mistake.

“Elias, over here,” my mother called with Felicity by her side.

I hadn’t even found Kim yet and already the attacks were beginning.

Growling under my breath, I walked over to say hello to my mom.

“Mother.” I kissed her cheeks.

She frowned when I pulled away. “Don’t you have anything in your wardrobe that isn’t black?”

“You did say black tie, Mother.”

“But would it hurt you to wear a white shirt for once?”

I shrugged. If my black dress shirt, matching my black slacks, black jacket, and black tie were her only complaints of the evening, then I would call that a successful night.

“Aren’t you going to say hello to Felicity?”

“Hello Felicity.”

Normally I would at least say something polite, comment on how nice she looked or something to appease my mother, but this time I knew I had to keep a distance and not encourage either of them.

“Why don’t you ask her to dance? I think that would be a lovely idea,” Mom said.

Felicity smiled and stepped towards me holding out her hand expecting me to take it.

I took a step back.

“No thank you,” I said. “I won’t be dancing this evening. If you’ll both excuse me, I need to discuss something with Ryan.”

I left the two of them gawking in my wake. I knew I’d be hearing all about how rude I was later, but right now, I was just trying to survive the night and remain respectful to my mate.

Where the hell was she anyway?

“Relax. You’re scowling. What did Mom always say? Keep making that face and it’ll stick that way.”

I frowned harder.

“Have you seen Kim?”

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