Page 30 of Midnight Whispers

I sit, continuing to eat and trying to let it go. To not care what Cinder does for her birthday. But it’s like an itch under my skin that I can’t quite reach. And by the time Asher walks in to join us, I know what I’m going to do despite my need for self-preservation.

“Sorry that took so long.” He stops at the end of the table and looks around the room. “Just the three of us tonight?”

I set my napkin on the table and push my chair out to stand. “Just the two of you. I have something I need to go do.” Anabelle gives me a cheeky grin, and I roll my eyes. “See you two later.”

“The more over the top, the better,” Anabelle calls out, laughing.

I flip her off right before leaving the room.

“What was that about?” Asher asks her.

Oh, nothing. Your youngest brother is just choosing torture over self-preservation, Ash. Nothing to see here. Nothing at all.

Chapter

Fourteen

CINDER

For the first time in my adult life, I’ve taken my birthday off. I won’t be slinging drinks or shaking my tits today. I’ll be able to do whatever I want, though as I lie in bed staring at the ceiling, I have no idea what that might be.

Nero has avoided me for the past week, for reasons I’m not sure of. The first week I was here, he was checking on me, but he’s been especially MIA this past week.

I took him up on his offer of using the ballroom to dance. Which is definitely something I could do today. Dancing for myself has been so cathartic.

There’s a knock at my door, and I sit up, holding the sheet to my chest. “Come in.”

I expect it to be Marcel with my breakfast tray, but Nero walks through the door with the tray.

He smiles. “Good morning, and happy birthday.”

He remembered. That alone fills my eyes with wetness. No one in my life has acknowledged my birthday since my dad.

“Thank you.”

He sets the tray on the table before sitting on the edge of the bed. His scent wraps around me, and I want to lean in to smell him better, but I don’t. He’s clearly been wary of me lately, and I don’t want to push it.

“Do you have any plans for the day?”

I’m embarrassed to admit that I don’t. “Not really, no.”

“I was hoping you’d say that. Eat up, and in about an hour, I have people coming here to see you. I made plans for us tonight.”

My chest fills with a warm feeling I can only remember from when I was young and in the presence of my parents. “What plans? Who’s coming here?”

“Don’t worry. Just answer the knock on the door in an hour. I’ll see you tonight.” He leans in as though maybe he’s going to kiss me, but then seems to think better of it and stands from the bed.

I watch him leave the room, wondering what this turnabout could possibly be about and not really caring because it’s what I hoped for.

A little more than an hour later, there’s a knock at the bedroom door. Though I had no idea who to expect, I was not expecting three people to be standing there when I open the door.

“Cinder?” the woman at the front with bright red hair that’s clearly dyed and one side of her head shaved asks.

“Yes…”

“Perfect. Mind giving us some room so we can get all this stuff in here?”

That’s when I notice some of the house staff, including Marcel, behind the three strangers. They carry boxes or bags and two of them even have a rolling rack of clothes.

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