Page 46 of Glamour & Gumballs

His arm was around me, and the sun was shining down on us. Warmth flooded every cell of my body, and I leaned in closer to him.

We couldn’t have a real conversation in the illusion—I wasn’t free to do whatever I wanted inside it. Rhett had complete control.

But that didn’t make it any less perfect. I was more than confident enough to let him take the helm, especially when his doing so meant giving me the illusion of feeling warm when I was shivering.

“If we weren’t in this damn game, I’d put you on my lap and use my wings as an umbrella right now,” he admitted.

I wanted to urge him to do it, just in the illusion, but had no way to say that.

So we remained where we were.

And even though it wasn’t exactly what I wanted, it was enough to make my chest ache. I could do a lot worse than spending my life with a man thoughtful enough to do something about my shivering when it absolutely wasn’t expected.

Somehow, when the illusion faded away, I was still warm.

I was exhausted when nighttime finally came around.

Rhett warmed me with his illusions every time I started shivering, but that didn’t make it any easier to spend hours alone.

The rain finally stopped around dinnertime, and Harker started a fire despite the wood being wet. Magic was nice like that.

We all crowded around the fire.

I was squished between two guys I didn’t really know—Travis and Chris—and Rhett’s jaw was clenched, his attention solely on me.

Julian was watching him, almost suspiciously.

My mind flashed back to the first episode of the last season. Cameron had gotten rid of Julian immediately, because he was smart enough to put together their plan.

I’d have to tell Kyle or Rhett to get rid of him.

I focused on the fire until the rice was cooked through, then on my pitiful serving of it. There was some fish too, but it had been raining too hard for the guys to go out for long during most of the day, so I wasn’t going to take that from them considering I’d had a massive breakfast.

I ate the rice slowly, not making eye contact with any of the men. They all avoided me too much to bother trying to befriend them.

They chatted about the lack of rain, some kind of fae sport that was popular, and the huge shark they’d seen while they were fishing the day before. The shark wasn’t concerning to them—they were at the top of the food chain.

When I finished my rice, I looked up and found Rhett still watching me.

And Julian still watching him.

Shit.

I set my leaf down and stood up, not bothering to swat the wet sand off my ass and legs.

There was always wet sand on my ass and legs.

I missed the spa, badly.

Hell, I missed real life too.

“I’m going for a walk,” I said.

Hopefully, Kyle could stop Rhett from coming after me.

I strode down the beach, and heard footsteps behind me.

My stomach clenched.

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