Page 14 of Princess For All

And all I wanted to do was sigh and kick them out. I moved the pillow over my head and yelled at them when they got loud. It was pissing me off and making me feel crazy.

Until Jaxon showed up. He was my sweet and understanding Jaxon like when we’d first met. He helped me navigate this and got everyone to back off. I wanted my bed, but the private lounge couches were nice too. And people wouldn’t think to look for me there, so it was still a retreat.

So I snuggled up there after he even carried me and promised to cut out tongues if they hassled me. He put on SpongeBob SquarePants which he said was popular when I was a kid, so why not check it out so I didn’t feel left out?

I nodded, thinking that was perfect and I wouldn’t care if I fell asleep during it.

But then he took off his shoes and moved some pillows under his arm.

“You’re joining me?” I hedged.

“Is that not okay?” he worried. “I thought—sorry, I figured I could if I was keeping people from not hovering.” He cleared his throat. “I can go.”

“No,” I exclaimed too loudly before snuggling on my pile of pillows. “No, you can stay. We can watch the sponge together.”

“Okay, cool. Thanks.” He was quiet for several minutes. “I want donuts. Oooh and one of those coffee drinks Nick makes that’s more like dessert. The salted caramel one. No, that apple crisp that he said was a Starbucks flavor? It’s like apple pie and coffee.”

“I’ve not tried that one,” I hedged, thinking that sounded good when five minutes ago the idea of eating or drinking anything made my stomach rebel. “Yeah, okay.”

I knew what he was doing, but he wasn’t putting pressure on me which I appreciated. I really,reallyappreciated.

I only had the drink, but it had a ton of calories and sugar, so it was fine, more than most had for breakfast. I just didn’t feel like donuts even if I normally loved them.

“That was so much sweet,” Jaxon said about twenty minutes after our drinks were done. “I want salty.” He leaned over and kissed my hair. “Thanks, I needed this day off too.”

“Yeah, we really did,” I agreed. “What kind of salty?”

“It’s not breakfast, but I want like loaded fries. What if we did it with hashbrowns? Then it’s breakfast. Yeah, hashbrowns loaded with scrambled eggs, bacon, and cheese. That sounds amazing.”

“Maybe.” I shrugged. It didn’t sound bad, but I wasn’t like hungry.

Though I kinda wanted a cheeseburger after watching SpongeBob go on and on about a Krabby Patty. That was pretty funny.

It ended up smelling great, so I had a few bites. Cerdic sat down at my feet and finished it for me. He had a couple of donuts too and thanked me for breakfast before kissing my hair and heading out.

That was it. No drama, no pushing—just everyone fucking calm.

It was really nice.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered when Kristof sat down later. “I shouldn’t have blown up at you.”

“I’m sorry I did not handle it better,” he said quietly, picking up a donut and munching on it. “I get—nothing scares me more than losing you. I worry I will lose you to all of this madness. It makes me panic.”

“Me too.” I rubbed my feet against his leg which made him chuckle. I did feel bad because I’d really snapped at him.

He’d been focused on finding something that I wanted to do and it had just grated on me in my current mood.

No, I didn’t want to take a bath.

Nor go to my studio.

Or see the shifter kids at the outposts.

No, I didn’t want to go to the hot spring.

Or go hunting.

Nor fishing.

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