Page 146 of Blood & Betrayals

Connor presses a sweet kiss to my head. “Is there any alcohol left in the realm, or did you two drink it all?”

I nuzzle into his neck, needing more cuddles and kisses, more affection. If I were myself, my neediness would make me feel ill, but I can’t help it right now. Fuck it. It feels good to need someone and to know I’m not setting myself up for disappointment.

Connor, understanding the assignment, tightens his arms around me and kisses the top of my head again, giving me what I need.

It takes until I’m mostly done with my coffee before I start to feel better.

“My poor girl.” Connor smiles into my hair. He’s clearly loving this, and at the moment, I can’t even muster the energy to give him a hard time for it.

“At least we were just in the house. So nohangover fear.”

“Hmm,” Connor says, and I pull back, looking at his face.

“I was at home, so I didn’t publicly embarrass myself. Right?”

Connor laughs softly. “No, Alice did it for you.”

Alice props herself up, looking at us. “Huh?”

Connor pulls his phone out and loads up Alice’sNexusstory. There, the first fucking story, is me dancing on the table. What’s that at the end? Oh, that’s my bare ass, barely covered by my thong.

I grab his phone, replaying it. “Fuck.”

Alice grimaces from the floor, watching it on her own phone. She takes a sip of her coffee, and I can’t help but wonder how she is doing that while lying down.

“What are the chances no one has seen it yet?”

“Uh, extremely low.” Alice grimaces again and turns her phone to show that the video has thousands of reactions and comments.

I nod. “Well. The whole school has seen my bare ass then, I guess,” I say matter-of-factly. What am I going to do now? Run around trying to pull the memory from everyone at school?

“It’s a hot ass,” Connor says, and I bury my face in his neck. Connor laughs. “Babe, it’s fine. Everyone will forget about it when the next drama happens. Probably next time Alice gets into a fight. So sometime today.”

Alice flips him off.

I just nuzzle into Connor again, inhaling his cloud scent.

“I like it when you are all cuddly,” he says, and I can hear the easy smile in his voice.

I press a soft kiss to his neck.

“So I take it you’re both cutting today?”

I shake my head. “I’m going in.”

Alice lays back down and lifts one of her arms, her hand the only thing visible. She shoots a finger gun at Connor and says, “I’m staying home and dying.”

Reluctantly, I slip from Connor’s lap and pad into my room. I change into my uniform and grab my phone from the charging pad. Checking my alerts, I see an email from the headmaster. With a frown, I open it.

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Ms. Tuatha De Daanan,

I wish to discuss a matter with you. Please come to my office prior to your first class.

Headmaster Emrys

---