Page 248 of Blood & Betrayals

“Summer?” I look at her. “Do you have feelings for this guy?”.

“Feelings?”

Alice nods. “Like… romantic ones?”

I shake my head. “No, I love Connor.” It’s just a stupid crush, and it has more to do with that stupid part of me searching for something. “The stranger just… understands me. Or at least, I think he does. He did… I don’t know.”

“And you feel like it’s wrong?”

I think for a moment. “It feels too,” I pause, trying to think of the word, “intimate.”

Alice nods. “I mean, that makes sense. Especially considering you’re even more emotionally constipated than I am.”

I glare at her but ask, “It does?”

“Yeah, Summer. I know you. You don’t have feelings for him, but he knows you on a level that even Connor and I don’t. It feels like you should feel more for him because of that. Am I headed in the right direction?”

“Something like that.” I sink into Alice’s tidy truth instead of searching through my much messier one. “I’m going to distance myself from him.”

“You going to tell him why?”

“I probably should, right?”

Alice shrugs. “I mean, will he understand?”

“Maybe he won’t care.” I hope.

“I somehow doubt that,little fae.” Alice mimics his voice for the pet name.

I spend the entire class thinking about how I’m going to tell the stranger that I need to take a step back. I’m so distracted when I get to the canteen that when Connor appears in front of me, I walk into his hard mass of muscle.

“Hi, babe! I’m owed kisses,” he says, catching my arms and steadying me.

I smile and push up onto my tiptoes to kiss him. From behind him, I can hear Rafe sigh in disgust.

“You were gone this morning.” Connor pouts.

“I knew your first class was later, and I didn’t want to wake you.”

“But I wanted kisses.”

I grin and kiss him again. Connor wraps his arms around my waist and fits me against him, deepening the kiss. Rafe makes gagging noises, and I pull back before he hurls his lunch up.

“Does that make up for it?”

Connor purses his lips. “Not quite, but getting there.”

Zach and Zane make mock kissing noises. I hold my hand out and twist it slightly. I can’t see them around Connor’s big body, but I hear the clunk as their heads knock together. In unison, they groan in pain. Connor laughs and turns to face his brothers.I smile wickedly at the twins, who are rubbing their heads where they collided. Connor helps me into my seat before sitting down next to me.

“You suck,” Zane grumbles.

I make my eyes go wide and pout my bottom lip in fake sympathy. “Oh, no! Did you have to face the consequences of your own actions?”

Zach flips me off, and Connor laughs, pulling me closer to him. I tuck myself against him and brush a kiss against his neck. He glows brightly in happiness, and I bask in how easy it is when we’re together.

Rafe holds his hand up to shield his eyes. “Can you finish becoming an archangel already? The glow is annoying,” he grumbles.

Connor shrugs and offers me a bite of his sandwich with a wicked grin. I glare at him, and he busts out laughing before taking a big bite.

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