Page 74 of Gods & Angels

“Really?” I laughed, thinking it an awfully random thing for him to say.

He nodded. “Really.”

“We’re not even a week through this term.”

“I know.” He nodded again. “Aren’t you going to ask why?” he promoted when I didn’t.

I smiled at him. “All right. Why?”

“Because I’ll get you all to myself.”

“And what do you call this?”

“I call this counting down the seconds until you have to leave me,” he said, and his tone was almost sorrowful.

“That’s almost cute,” I told him, and he kissed my cheek enthusiastically.

“Would you change it?” he asked suddenly a few moments later.

“Change what?” I asked.

“Propriety. Appearances. Our world thrives on them. Would you change it if you could?”

I looked him over, thinking it a rather weird question. There were a great many things I’d change if I could.

And there went that word again. Appearances. Valen had used that word. It meant more to them than it did me, obviously. But one had to wonder who it was affecting more.

“What do you mean?” I asked carefully.

Apollo’s hand slid up under my jumper and gently caressed the skin of my stomach. “If we didn’t have to worry about those things, you could, for example, stay the night without worrying about what people would say.”

I had a feeling they’d be more complimentary about me spending the night than any of his Magdalens. But then, I’d never heard of one staying the night before. Did staying the night mean something else? Something more? Or was it just harder to convince people that nothing scandalous had gone on?

I wasn’t sure what Apollo wanted. I didn’t know what I wanted. His hand was warm on my stomach, and I didn’t hate it there. So, not knowing what else to do, I aimed for a joke.

“Are you propositioning me, Apollo?”

Thankfully, he laughed as his nose brushed along the shell of my ear. “I like spending time with you. I really enjoyed last holidays.”

Apollo’s nose trailed over my neck, my jaw, my cheek. It was soft and it made my heart beat faster in my chest. I lay my hand on his cheek and he looked at me through hooded eyes. There was that look again. Like he wanted me. Actually wanted me. I felt myself swallow hard. Was this it? Was this the moment our relationship changed? It’s not like we’d never kissed before, but that had been the curiosity of the pre-teen in us and had only happened a couple of times. I suspected he’d had quite a bit more practice since then.

But nothing happened.

Apollo’s phone buzzed and I felt him shift against me. He cleared his throat and kissed my cheek.

“It’s getting late, you should probably get back,” he said before pulling away from me.

Seriously? Was he seriously kicking me out because of a booty call? Had he organised it? And was this before or after he sodesperatelywanted to hang out with me?

But I wasn’t going to say any of that because I didn’t want to open that can of worms. I didn’t want to have a conversation about what we were doing. Or, more obviously at that point, what we weren’t doing. I still didn’t know how I felt about us actually doing that. I hadn’t wanted him to stop touching me, but I wasn’t sure that meant I wanted him to keep touching me.

Apollo sent off a message and I had no choice but to nod and stand up.

“No, sure. Class tomorrow and all that.”

“The fuck do you want?” came a very angry voice at Apollo’s door.

“Valk,” Apollo said with a smile. “Can you take Harlow back to her room for me?”

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