Page 8 of The Infinite Light of Dust

The lavender scent filled the room and a few more seconds passed and neither of us could look away. It had been such a long day, in both a good and a bad way.

“Do you want some privacy?” She slowly shook her head. “Do you want me to read to you?”

Her eyes moved to the book on the ledge of the window. “Really?”

“Yeah, I have to know what becomes of the old vampire man in a teenage body and the teenager who thinks it’s a good idea to date him, and you said the book is better,” I teased.

“It’s the love story of a lifetime. So muchTwilightslander in this house today. So stop talking shit about it and get to reading.” She smiled, closed her eyes, and leaned her head over the edge of the tub.

I grabbed the book and sat on the floor next to her. Thank god I had perfect vision because it was pretty dark in the bathroom. I began to read out loud, something I had always hated doing, but for her, I would do anything. That was becoming more solidified every day.

After a few minutes, I thought she was asleep, but she surprised me by rising to her knees and reaching her wet hand out to close the book.

“Come in with me?” she asked, her voice a bit shaky. I put the book down and stood up.

I lifted my shirt over my head and her eyes, hungry in the glow of the room, focused on my chest.

Chapter Four

Karina

Kael climbed into the tub and slid his body behind mine. His muscled chest felt solid against my back, and I rested my head against his chest. His arms stretched out in front of my body, one resting on my hip and one dipping into the water, taking a puff of bubbles and running fingers along my chest. Only a few minutes ago I was drifting in and out of consciousness, exhausted from the whirlwind of the day, and listening to Kael’s deep voice was exactly what I needed. This was the type of intimacy I craved, and I’d never felt closer to another person in my life.

“What an insane day. This, though”—I leaned deeper into his embrace—“is heaven in the middle of hell,” I whispered.

“That’s what you are to me, Karina. Heaven in the middle of a constant hell.”

I turned around to face him, the bubbly water splashing around us. I tucked my legs under his lifted ones and reached for his face.

“I’m serious, Karina. For years, so much darkness has taken over my mind. Since I met you, when I feel those shadows creeping in, I think of you, and I’m able to push them back. No therapy or mind-numbing medication can help the way you have, and I know it’s not your responsibility to fix me, but I really fucking appreciate it.”

“I love you, you know that, right?” I said. The vulnerability in my voice left me feeling as if I was being cracked open and splayed out. The fight-or-flight instinct in me that usually came with any intense feelings wasn’t present; there was only Kael and his sparkling yet tormented eyes in the dim bathroom.

I brushed my thumb across the scar on his eyebrow and his eyes fluttered closed. “I love you, Karina,” he said.

The way he pushed the words out as if they pained him didn’t send me into an anxiety-filled tailspin the way it usually would have. Instead, I tried to understand his turmoil, the confusion and chaos around us, inside of his mind and out.

I leaned in to kiss him, startling when he gripped my ass, pulling me to straddle him and pressing our bodies so tightly together that I could barely breathe. His mouth was hungry, starving, as if I was his last meal. He adjusted my hips to lower onto his cock, fitting tightly and opening me from such an intense angle that he used one of his hands to cover my mouth and the other to pull at my hair, yanking it hard enough to make my eyes water and my core tighten so deeply I arched my back as I began to ride him. His eyes poured into mine every second of our contact, never looking away, never ashamed, only fully lost in one another. I braced myself with my hands on his shoulders, then his thighs, as his hips lifted to meet each of my movements.

“Fuck, Karina. You feel so good. I needed this, I needed you.”

I nodded, all I could do as I came, my legs going still and my fingers digging into his broad shoulders as he lifted up, pounding into me to take me over the edge completely. I faintly heard the water splashing as he groaned, releasing himself into me. We both slowed our movements, catching our breath, and his hand moved from my mouth to my cheek, gently brushing my skin.

We stayed silent, only our breathing filling the bathroom, until I began to doze off in the lukewarm water. I faintly remembered Kael lifting me up, gently toweling my hair dry, and taking me to his bed.

Chapter Five

Karina

My brother was wide awake and sitting on Kael’s couch staring at the wall when I walked into the living room the next morning. He didn’t even look up or over at me, just sat there still as stone. I almost walked back into the bedroom to drag Kael out with me, but decided against it. I’d known my brother since the moment we were born, and I could usually navigate him in a way that no one else could, but I had never dealt with him being heartbroken . . . if that’s what this was. I still wasn’t sure, but I saw the way he looked at Elodie as Phillips hugged her, and it sure looked that way to me.

“Hey,” I said, leaning into the couch next to him.

He looked at me for a second, then looked away, back at the wall.

Austin let out a sigh. “Hey.”

“You okay?” I asked, knowing he obviously wasn’t.

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