Page 62 of Cruel Daddy Dragon

He steps forward and puts a hand on my shoulder.

“I told Julie I was falling for her in the heat of a moment.” He gives a nervous laugh, “Not the best moment either, to be honest.”

“Yeah?” I ask.

“Yeah,” Kaius laughs a little sheepishly, “It was just after she’d been robbed. If I planned it better, I’d have picked a more romantic place to tell her, like a beach or a sunset or something—not her destroyed house after getting burgled.”

I chuckle a little bit.

“But you don’t get to plan these kinds of things, do you?” Kaius says, “Anything with your fated is just a rush—I don’t think any of us had a chance to plan a damn thing.”

“Right,” I reply.

“Look,” Kaius says, “don’t worry about it. I don’t know about Cyrus and Lena, but it wasn’t always smooth sailing for us. We might be fated, but that doesn’t mean it’s always easy. I was joking earlier, Rufus—Sarah didn’t look like she wasangryat you.”

He sounds genuine, and for the first time, I relax a little bit.

“Are you sure?” I ask.

“Yeah, Man,” Kaius answers, “I really don’t think she’s angry with you.”

“What should I do then?” I ask, “She’s barely said a word since I told her I love her.”

“Don’t do anything,” Kaius says, “I mean, look at her over there, with the girls. She’s good.”

I do, and I can see the girls through the back window, all three of them on the couch together, laughing. Sarah’s doing that laugh I love… I can’t hear her, but I can hear that laugh in my head. The one where she tosses her glossy blonde hair as she throws her head back in laughter. I’ve seen and heard her laugh like that. I hope that at some point, I make her laugh that hard… Somehow…

“She’ll come back to you when she’s ready,” Kaius says, drawing my attention back to him, “That’s what Julie did, and we—”

He looks back to the window and bristles. I follow his gaze back to the girl. Julie has put a hand on Sarah’s shoulder, and something’s wrong. She’s clutching at Sarah’s shoulder, a thick fistful of her clothing. Her facial expression has dropped, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly agape. Her skin has gone pale. Sarah’s holding onto Julie’s shoulder in return, staring intensely. Lena’s now leaning over to check her.

I look back to Kaius—and I’m fairly sure I don’t exist anymore to him; it’s like a switch has flicked, and he’s off, sprinting toward the house after his love. I follow suit. As we both run toward the house, Orion and Milo are standing, braced.

“Milo!”I shout as Kaius bolts into the house, ignoring us all.

“What’s going on?!” Milo yells back.

“It’s Julie! Something’s wrong!” I say, “Come on!”

I see Milo snap into doctor mode, and he and Orion follow at my heels as we all crash inside the house. Kaius is already there, on his knees and holding Julie’s hands. But she’s smiling sheepishly; her color’s coming back, and when she looks at Milo and me, evenmorecolor floods her cheeks until she’s red as a cherry.

“Oh, no!” Julie exclaims, “I’m sorry! I’m okay, Guys! Really!”

Milo steps in front of me.

“What happened? Are you all right?” he asks, his stern doctor tone coming through.

“I’m fine, Milo! Really!” Julie insists, “I just had a vision. I… uh, I’ve never had one that intense before.”

She looks back at Kaius.

“I’m sorry I worried you,” she murmurs.

Kaius puts a hand on her cheek and smiles at her.

“It’s okay,” he replies, “I’m just glad you’re all right.”

“I want to look over her, just in case,” Milo orders.

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