Page 38 of Knocked up By the Minotaur

I unlock my car as I approach it on the street, pause, lock it again, and keep walking.

But there was nothing to fear, either. Was there?

Why would I fear losing Grace?

It just doesn’t make sense. It’s not like this changes our relationship. We’re still friends, we’ll still meet and chat like normal. We may even be better friends now with the shared experience of our terrible exes.

Having sex, not having sex… since when did that do anything to define my feelings towards a female? Sex is entirely separate from emotions, there’s nothing tying one to the other.

It just doesn’t make sense.

I won’t get to touch her anymore, sure. I won’t have her naked skin pressed against my fur, won’t hear her cry out my name as if I’m the only male in the world, or feel her clutch me to her body like she’ll never let me go. I’ll not experience the sound of her soft breaths as she falls asleep at my side, snuggling into my chest unconsciously as if I’m more comfortable than her pillow. I’ll lose all of that, of course, after only just discovering it.

But I can get all that from anyone else, can’t I?

I shake my head and let my feet carry me on, my thoughts uselessly spinning and circling and coming to no conclusion, nothing to satisfy the itch on just what is going on with me.

Why would I fear losing Grace, when I won’t be losing her at all?

I just don’t get it.

Chapter 15

Grace

Just tell me what’s really going on between you and that animal you’re so intent on flaunting in my face.

I sigh down at my phone, watching with an absent, defeated stare as yet another message comes through from Brad, despite the fact that I stopped replying to him days ago.

I saw you with him last week. He’s not even human, Gracie. I know you’re just doing this to get back at me. You’re being immature.

I flop back on the couch, my laptop forgotten on the coffee table. I need to start on a new website soon, and I was trying to do a bit more research on places to live while I still had the time. I honestly don’t even know if I want to go back home, start fresh here in Whispering Pines away from Brad’s usual stomping grounds, or even try somewhere else entirely. But with the way Brad’s been blowing up my phone lately, I can’t seem to concentrate on anything at all.

My phone vibrates in my hand again, and I tap it to silent with a glare and throw it across the couch, wincing when it bounces off a pillow and onto the rug on the floor, where I see it silently flashing with yet another message.

I just need a break. I’ll get out of the house, reset my brain, and then I’ll be able to ignore him better and get on with it. Maybe I’ll even start my work ahead of schedule, since apartment-hunting isn’t going very well for me.

The doorbell rings, and I leap off the couch with a burst of energy. Distraction. Yes.

That’ll be Ella with Lucas. He started going to Gossamer Wings Daycare along with Rylah and Rowan this week, to get him back into a schedule, and we’ve been taking alternating shifts over who picks the kids up in the afternoons. I open the door, ready to beg my sister to take a quick walk with me at Heartwood Grove, but I come face to face with Rhokar instead.

“Oh, hey Rho,” I say, deflating. Damn, I really wanted to vent, and my sister’s the best ear I know.

“Don’t look so happy to see me,” Rhokar gruffs with a half-smile, as he nudges Lucas through the door. “Ella’s working late today, so I’m back on pick-up duty.”

“Hey, baby,” I greet Lucas, as I bend to lay a fat kiss on his cheek.

“Hey, mamma!”

I squish him to my side and eye the orc before me once more. “You wouldn’t happen to want to join us for little walk in the park before dinner, would you?”

“Yay! Park!” Lucas races inside to get his park shoes, even as Rho shakes his head.

“Sorry.” He shrugs, glancing back at the car. “Ry has that faceon right now that tells me if I don’t get dinner in her in the next thirty minutes, you’re going to be hearing her wails from here.”

I sigh forlornly. “Alright, that’s fair.”

As Rho heads home I get Lucas and myself ready for the park anyway, figuring I can grab a few groceries on the way home.

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