Page 92 of The Artist
“I know. Check this out.” I showed Indiana one of Belle’s latest drawings of him walking with Aubri on his shoulders with the both of them laughing.
“Hey, that was a few days ago. It was colder than a witch’s titty and my young grasshopper talked me into carrying her. We were laughing because she teased me that she farted just to see what I would do.” Indiana chuckled.
“Stop calling my sisteryours, and she’s not a fucking grasshopper.”
“Easy.” Indiana placed his hand on my shoulder. “You know I would never hurt her.”
“I trust that you would never do it deliberately, but Aubri has enough scars to prove that none of us have ever been able to protect her from herself.”
A knock on the window made us turn to see Freya waving at us. “Come on. Belle is taking us to meet one of the Explorers that she talked about. The one who’s called Banni.”
CHAPTER 25
Banni
Belle
As soon as we got up above ground the others greedily filled their lungs with fresh air.
“We’re meeting Banni at the Exploration Headquarters, it’s a twenty-minute walk from here,” I said and pointed in the direction we were going.
“I’m not seeing any drones.” Indiana leaned his head back to do a full spin.
“That’s because everything is walkable. It won’t take you more than an hour to cross the entire country if you keep a brisk pace. The drones we use here are for emergencies and transportation of goods. We private citizens can use hover boards, but they’re expensive so most of us rely on our strong legs.”
“That’s one way to stay fit,” Mason remarked before Freya commented, “It makes sense since you’re moving just as much vertically as you are horizontally. It’s so weird that a place no bigger than our largest city is considered a country.”
Walking down the main street our group was constantly stopped by curious people, so I led them into a less trafficked area. Mason fell into step beside me. “Do you think you could say goodbye to this place and live with me in the Northlands?”
I raised my gaze to meet his. “If it means that I can keep my child, yes.”
“What if there wasn’t a child?”
I thought about my answer. “At this point your question is hypothetical, Mason.” Looking over my shoulder I saw that Freya, Aubri, and Indiana had stopped in front of a store window, pointing and talking.
The street was narrow and quiet with no one close. Mason seemed uninterested in the others and moved closer to me. “Belle, I know I said we should wait until we’re back in the Northlands, but I’m dying to talk to you.”
My heart was beating fast from the urgency in his tone.
“I know you have feelings for me, Belle. I see it in your eyes when you’re not hiding from me.”
“Hiding? I’m right here.”
“I didn’t mean literally, but emotionally. I see how you light up when I enter a room, and I feel our connectionhere.” Mason placed a hand on his chest.
That familiar pressure of emotions that wanted out made me swallow them down.
“You’re doing it again,” Mason said with frustration in his voice and lifted my chin. “You have the most beautiful and expressive eyes, Belle. Why can’t you put into words what I see in them?”
He was asking the impossible of me and all I could do was keep eye contact and grab onto the front of his jacket.
Mason furrowed his brow. “Say something.”
“It’s hard,” I whispered.
He dipped his head and kissed my forehead. “I get that but try.”
I tightened my hold on his jacket as if I could somehow pull Mason inside me and let him see for himself how my brain and heart were swarming with emotions that went back many years. How could I ever confess to him that every hero in any steamy romance novel I ever read looked like Mason in my mind?
