Page 102 of Eternal

“I’m sure you do.” I look up over my shoulder at him. “Do you really like my paintings? They’re chaotic.”

“They’re you.” He tucks my hair behind my ear.

“If you mean they’re nightmare fuel, then yes, they are me.”

“Always so hard on yourself, Tealene.”

“Sorry…” I quirk an eyebrow. “Is that only your job?”

“Mm-hmm.” He pulls my back tighter to his chest, sealing us together. “Like I said, if you want to be ruined, I volunteer to be the one who does it.”

My cheeks heat as his cock hardens against me. “Very funny.”

“I’m not joking.” He kisses the top of my head. “But seriously, you’re too hard on yourself. Your art’s beautiful enough to get you into Paris, so why doubt it? And so long as it gets the nightmares out, isn’t that all that matters?”

I wish it were that simple. But no matter how deep I dig, I never get close to whatever it is I’m really after.

“I need to go meet up with my dad for a little bit.” Declan spins me in his arms until I’m facing him, still not taking his hands off me. “Will you be okay here by yourself? I was going to say you could hang out with Kole and Violet, but they already disappeared.”

“I get the feeling we won’t see much of them this trip.”

Declan leans in to plant a kiss on the side of my neck. “I’m not complaining.”

My fingers clutch his T-shirt, and his arm that’s wrapped around my lower back pulls me tighter against his hard body.

“Declan…” I tip my head back as he kisses a path over my collarbone and up the center of my throat. “I thought you just said you needed to go take care of something.”

“I got distracted.”

I laugh, pushing him off me. “No distractions right now. I need to shower after that long drive. None of this until I’m clean.”

“And if I like you dirty?” He rubs his thumb over my mouth, smearing my lip gloss.

I grab his wrist. “Then there’s plenty of time for that later.”

“Fine,” he says with a frown, not fighting me when I take a step back.

But when I adjust my tank top, it pulls down slightly in the front, and the hint of cleavage has his eyes narrowing like a predator out for a kill.

It takes everything in me not to cave because his attention is intoxicating. I’ve never thought much of myself physically, but when Declan looks at me, I feel like the center of the universe.

“Thirty minutes.” Declan steps backward. “Then you’re all mine.”

He looks like he’s in pain when he glances over his shoulder a final time before walking out the door.

With Declan gone, and Kole and Violet missing in action, I head upstairs to where the second primary bedroom is. The fact that they are on separate floors adds to the privacy, and I appreciate it.

I dig through my bag for a practical and comfortable outfit. It’s hot outside, so I’m glad I listened to Violet and packed more shorts than I usually would. It’s difficult to hide the scars on the inside of my thighs when shorts and skirts ride up, so I usually avoid them, but I found a few pairs that are long enough to hide them.

Gathering my fresh outfit and lotion, I step into the bathroom. The shower steam fogs up the mirror almost instantaneously, and the fan barely helps, which explains the mildew smell that hangs in the cabin air.

I strip off my clothes, staring at myself in the foggy mirror as I slowly fade away, wondering what Declan sees in me.

Stress has left me a little too thin lately, and I don’t have the hourglass curves of half the girls I’ve seen him talk to at school. My breasts are small and unimpressive, and my skin is marked from my mental battles. My blonde hair is a wild mess of colors, and I rarely style it.

Nothing about me turns people’s heads. And if beauty is truly on the inside, I don’t think that works in my favor either.

The mirror fogs until I’m only an outline of a person. I reach in my pile of clothes for my phone and turn sideways to catch what few curves I can. Snapping a picture, I type out a message and hit send before I have a chance to talk myself out of it.

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