Page 24 of Serpentine

She turns back toward me, and I notice the shift this time. Her fingers skate over my bare chest. “The ride. God, I was so...”

“Free,” I finish for her.

“Yes! And alive! I haven’t felt that alive in... I don’t even recall how long.”

A smile lifts my lips. “I remember the first time I rode with my dad. The world was zooming by, and at first, I was so scared, but then it got great. Epic even.”

“That’s how I felt. It was like time and bullshit slipped away.”

I nod, even though she can’t see me.

She curls into my side, her head on my chest. “Is this okay?”

“Yes, pretty princess. It’s just fine.”

“I registered you didn’t want me kissing you.” She yawns. “I won’t do it again.”

“I don’t kiss,” I say.

She doesn’t ask why, as everyone else always has. She nods against my chest and then drifts off. My arm comes down around her, holding her to me as I wonder what the fuck I’m doing.

But my eyes shut, and even though my body is throbbing in pain from fighting with Brax, I’m the most comfortable I’ve been in a long fucking time.

NINE

BRAXTON

Aella’s in the kitchen. She’s in Miles’s clothes, which doesn’t bother me as much as I thought. The radio mounted under the cabinets is blaring from some barely audible station. She’s dancing as she flips pancakes on the cast iron griddle. I haven’t seen anyone use it since Mom.

The static on the radio, blurring in and out of the music, is making my skin fucking crawl, but I fight it so I can keep watching her dance. Moving up from the basement, where my room is, I close the door silently and sit at the table.

I counteract the overstimulation from the static by rolling my neck and toying with the edge of my shirt. The soft fabric grounds and soothes me.

Miles walks in, takes one look at her and one look at me, and rushes for the radio, slapping it off.

She turns and squeaks, tension leaving her when she realizes Miles shut it off, not one of our other Cobras.

“I’m sorry. Was I bothering you with it? I didn’t mean to have it so loud; it’s only that I couldn’t hear the song through the static...”

She follows his line of sight towards me, and I look down.

I hate their stare so fucking much. I hate the feeling that one of my quirks has ruined a moment she was having.

“No, it wasn’t bothering me,” Miles says pointedly. While there’s no malice in his tone, I wish he’d have said it wasn’t bothering us.

She clears her throat, and I know she’s looking at me when she speaks. “Well, I didn’t mean to be bothersome. I got up earlier than everyone else and thought I’d cook something. My grandma always had the radio going when she cooked, so when I saw this one... I won’t do it again. It doesn’t seem like it gets a good reception, anyhow.”

I look up at Miles, brows furrowed. “It was fine.”

“Was it?” he jabs.

He does this: he wants me to accept who I am, so he sometimes forces the uncomfortable factor of moments too far.

I’m too sore to beat his ass over it this morning, so I table it for another day.

“It smells amazing,” I add to the conversation as the room feels awkward and heavy.

She’s nervous, and he’s on edge. The vibes are leaking over to me and making me anxious. The things I do when I’m uncomfortable aren’t something I want to partake in this morning.

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