Page 30 of Avery

The video feed grows quiet as the door closes behind them. I have maybe forty-five seconds to make myself look presentable before they get here. Not that there's much I can do. My hair's still in the bun it was in when Phial and I watched our show. My eyes are probably still rimmed red from crying, and I can feel the burn of the flush in my face and how it travels down my neck tomy chest. The only thing I manage to do in the forty-five seconds it takes them to get to the room is stand up.

"You have a visitor," Jia says, sounding chipper and happy.

It's a stark contrast to the embarrassed look I'm wearing and the scowl Phial's staring into the back of her head. His feathers shoot up straight again when he sees me, and his hands move instinctively over his groin like he's trying to cover the fact that he's wearing a skirt.

I let my eyes linger over his body because while he might be different from any other species I've ever seen or been attracted to, I've grown very fond of how he looks. And, whether he likes it or not, he looks good in a skirt.

"I'll leave you two to it, then," Jia says, shoving Phial in the back so he's stepping further into the room. She grabs the doorknob and starts to pull it closed behind her before sticking her head back in. "Use the necklace, and the same rules apply as before. There's no time limit, so if you want to leave, say no or stop, and someone will be on the speaker."

My cheeks turn even brighter as she closes the door behind her, leaving Phial and me alone for as long as we want in this room where I want to learn to be physical with a man again. I twist my fingers in front of myself, chew on my bottom lip, and try to decide how to start this awkward conversation.

"So…" I let the word hang in the air for a moment until Phial repeats it, just as uncertain sounding as I am.

"You can turn invisible?" I ask. It's not even in the realm of things that need to be talked about right now, but it's probably something we should discuss at some point.

I mean, he's apparently been hiding out in the alcove during my heats. Who knows when else he's been around, and I didn't know. Why does that idea have my toes curling and my core clenching instead of weirding me out? Because it's Phial, that's why.

"I can." Phial clears his throat and then rolls his shoulders. "I feel like I should probably inform you that there's not very often when I'm not with you. When you ask for your privacy or if something needs to be done on the ship while you're out, I'm not with you, but for the most part, I've always been there."

"You follow me around?" I ask, the words breathy. Yeah, I'm kind of turned on by the whole stalker thing. I probably shouldn't tell him that. That might be what actually scares him away if he is interested in me.

"All the time." Phial takes a step closer to me.

"Why?"

Phial doesn't answer until he's standing right in front of me, his palm coming up to stroke my cheek. I can feel my heart trying to escape my rib cage, my breathing coming out in shallow little puffs as Phial's face nears mine like he's going to kiss me again.

"I love you, Avery, as a friend, as a lover, as anything you want. I love you, and I want to be in your life however I can be. But I need you to tell me what role I have the honor of playing because I don't think I'm very good at picking up on hints."

It feels like my heart is exploding in my chest, and at the same time, my stomach is erupting in butterflies. I reach up and tug Phial's lips to mine, needing to feel his touch and closeness. He obliges, placing a tender kiss across my lips, being sweet and gentle with me when I want nothing more than to pull him down to the loveseat and pick up where we were the last time we were here.

"What are we?" Phial asks as he pulls away just enough to get the words out. I'm stumbling backward, trying to find something soft, anything soft to be with him in.

The nest.

Oh, I want him in my nest so bad. I need to make it look nice, though. It's not ready for me to have a male inside just yet. Iturn away from him, my mind telling me I have to make the nest perfect before we do anything else.

Phial doesn't tug me back to him. He follows right behind me as I move toward the nest and crawl into it. The raised platform is concaved so I could fill it with soft blankets, furs, and pillows. We weren't sure if I'd have the same nesting instincts as Rytharians since we weren't sure what all Vyron altered inside me. Now it's clear I have a nesting drive.

Phial kneels down next to the nest, his eyes watching as I scramble around it, making sure pillows are where they need to be, blankets are lying just right without any wrinkles, and furs are all placed exactly where they need to be. I don't know how long he just sits and watches, but he doesn't interrupt me, and he doesn't look like he's put out.

"Okay," I huff when I'm certain everything is perfect.

"Okay?" Phial asks, rising to his full height so he can inspect the nest. I sit in the middle of it, my lip worrying between my teeth as I wait for him to tell me if he likes it or not. Phial's eyes trace over every inch, and I fill with pride at how his eyes seem to shimmer.

"It's beautiful, Avery," he says the words softly as his gaze lands on me. "Who did you build this nest for?"

"You," I murmur quietly, the words causing warmth to pool in my face and my belly.

"And who am I to you?"

I look up at Phial, and I force the words out of my mouth before I can talk myself out of it. "You're my best friend, but I really want us to be more than that."

"How much more?"

"I don't know." I know it's probably not the answer he wants to hear, but it's the only one I have. "Right now, I want everything. I want all of you to myself forever, but I don't know how realistic that is."

Phial's lips tick up in the corner. "Don't be realistic on my account."

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