Page 71 of Silent Jay

Focus, Jay! You have a hot dragon prince hand-feeding you. No one gives a sheep.

Ha, gives a sheep.

“You can ignore me all you want,” Tyson said, bumping my shoulder with his and pulling me to the present. “But my mom always said the way to a woman’s heart is through her stomach. Based on your facial expression, she was right.”

I bit my bottom lip and wiggled my eyebrows, grabbing my phone.

Jay:I already knew you were a good cook and a vegan specialist.

He shrugged. “It’s not my fault your paperwork was wrong.”

I frowned, my good mood cutting off with a snap.

Now, you’re definitely not kissing him.

How did you guess?

Tyson topped off our scotches. “It doesn’t matter. That’s over, and we’re an item. I’ll fix everything. Once I have my fire back, I’ll challenge Rehan for you. Once I officially beat his arse, I'll fix everything.”

I frowned.

Jay:It’s not that simple.

Tyson ran his hand over his face. “It never is, Wiggles. But I’ve got to start somewhere. I know that better than most.” He ducked his head as if embarrassed. “Most of my childhood is a blur of training. I was a late bloomer and a sensitive kid – too sensitive. My sire made sure I understood the consequences.”

I’d been around long enough to read between the lines. His dad abused him. Probably beat the poor kid every time he was empathetic instead of cruel. My blood boiled.

“It’s actions,” Tyson continued, unaware of my anger. “Not feelings, which keep our world together.”

His last sentence made my heart hurt. I forced myself to breathe. I knew all too well the ideals forced onto us by others and how inescapable they felt. I squeezed Tyson’s ankle, never wishing I had a voice more than right now.

‘You can talk to me. I’m here for you.’ Despite the words coming out as a series of low squeaks, Tyson scooted next to me. I wrapped his firm body in my arms, and he lay his head against my chest. I swear our heartbeats fell into sync. He trembled oncebefore suddenly twisting out of my grip and placing one hand on my chest, forcing me to lay back.

That stupid fear, tinged with inappropriate sexual tension, washed across my body. Instead of anything sexual, the fire prince surprised me by lying next to me and pointing at the twinkling star-filled sky. “I don’t know any of these, but I can make up some names if you like?”

I forced my sex drive to simmer down and turned my head, seeing the Universe reflected in Tyson’s gaze—the name of every constellation on the tip of my tongue.

Don’t ruin this moment.

My heart thudded.He’s a kid, still figuring his life out. What am I doing?

Damn it, Jay.

I turned back to the stars.There’s an app for this.

There is most definitely no app to fix you.

Ignoring my inner voice, I sat up just enough to pull out my phone. In seconds, I had an app download which contained every star fact I’d painstakingly learned over my hundreds of years alive. I didn’t know how I felt about that, but change happened. All I could do was make peace with it.

With no concept of my sinking mood, Tyson scooted close to me. His silk shirt pressed into my bare arm. Our fingers brushed as he took my phone from me and pointed it at a line of stars. His voice rumbled between us as he read about ‘the summer triangle.’

Despite myself, I loved it. The moment, his voice, the night sky. A message from Rehan popped up, the electronic notification as piercing as the words now halting Tyson’s reading.

Rehan:Thinking about you. I’ll beat the fire prick’s face in if he’s touched what’s mine.

Tyson scoffed. “He can try.”

A smile pulled at my cheeks, pulling me out of my downward spiral. I might not want me, but these two thought they did. And spell or not, that felt good. Instead of addressing either dragon, I opened our group chat.

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