Page 153 of Unwrapping Deviance

But Mira ... she has met every sharp, jagged part of us without batting an eye. She has accepted each of us exactly aswe are and has managed to add her own level of strange to our bundle, making it all fit.

Making us fit.

With a content sigh, my little demon shifts. She wiggles out of my hold and turns to burrow into Daniel’s chest.

God, she’s perfect.

“Breakfast,” I mouth to my brother as he’s dragging the sheets around Mira.

He nods and I roll off the mattress.

Shower is at the top of the list. We washed Mira and we did a quick scrub of ourselves the night before, but I do a thorough cleaning, dress and hurry down to the kitchen.

I don’t cook often. In a month, my time at the apartment consists of a week, maybe two before I’m gone again. My food and hotel are paid for so I find something new to try wherever I am. But I know the basics and I know how to use a phone. It’s been enough to keep me going the last thirty years without starving.

But that’s going to have to change. Definitely a conversation that needs to be had once Mira wakes up and has had breakfast. There’s a lot we need to discuss and sort out.

Like where is she going to live? Do I get her every other weekend? I need a bigger apartment. My one-bedroom bachelor pad won’t be big enough, but she’ll be in my room so maybe I only need another dresser? Maybe I’m supposed to move closer. I have no ties to my neighborhood. I can take my job anywhere, but she might want to stay in her mom’s place. Should we all move? Find a place together?

What if she’s changed her mind?

My hand stills with the whisk still clutched between my fingers. Strings of scrambled egg drip into the ceramic bowl. I watch the froth bubble and pop with my head buzzing.

What if she wakes up and realizes she’s made a mistake? What if I went too far last night? Christ, what if we really hurt her and she decides she never wants to be with either of us again?

Fuck!

I should have started small. I should have eased her into literally half the shit I did to her.

“Goddamn it, Christian. You stupid fuck up. Always screwing shit up since the day you crawled out of your mother’s cunt.”My dad’s voice is a prominent engraving watched into my soul, the worn threads on a record player.

He wasn’t wrong.

I did fuck shit up. I fucked things up with Lucy. I fucked Daniel’s whole life. I most likely fucked things up with Mira. I probably fucked any chance Daniel had with her too, which he would hate me for. I probably scared the fuck out of her, crawling into her bed with a fucking knife ... what the fuck was I thinking? Oh my God, am I really that fucking stupid?

“Christian!”

Something blurs past me. I blink and am immediately assaulted by the sharp stink of burning meat and grease. A thick, black cloud billows from the pan containing the bacon now tiny pieces of shriveled coal at the burnt bottom.

Mira snatches the handle and rushes with the ruined strips out the back door.

The kitchen is thick with a dark, rancid fog that burns my eyes and scratches my throat.

My tiny brat bolts back into the room and snaps the element off before spinning to me with wide, concerned eyes.

“Are you okay?” She snatches the bowl and whisk from my numb fingers and sets them aside. Those same slim fingers reach for me. “Christian?”

My hands find their purpose first and close into her sides. I hoist her up onto the counter and fill her thighs with my hips.

My face drops into her chest, over the patter of her heart. I feel her stiffen, but where I brace myself to get shoved aside, her arms come around me.

I exhale for what feels like the first time in my life.

“Did I hurt you?”

“No,” she whispers into the top of my head. “Not even once. That’s a lie,” she corrects and I lift my head. Her grin is adorable and mischievous. “There was a moment towards the end I definitely give zero stars, but the follow through was perfect.”

Despite the continued churning in my gut, I feel my lip twitch. “You’re okay though?”

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