Page 91 of For the Gods' Sake

“Hi,” she said, blinking her long lashes at me to try to shake the sleep from her eyes.

“Hi.” Fuck. My throat felt like it was closing around the word.

An emotion rocked me before I could stop it. Something I didn’t think I’d ever felt in its full force.

Dread.

If I’d done anything to make her regret last night, I’d—

Reyna leaned forward and placed a sweet, soft kiss on my lips. My hand shot up on its own accord, tangling in her hair. It had dried in its natural waves, tousled and messy and framing her face perfectly.

I deepened the kiss, hoping it would do something to chase away the pain in my chest, but it only seemed to make it worse.

What the hell was happening to me?

Reyna was the one to break it, pulling back just enough that she could speak. “I’m going to make some coffee. Want some?”

I nodded, still holding onto her hair like it had the answers to my problems.

Reyna smiled and for a second, I genuinely thought I was having a heart attack. “Adrian, baby, you have to let go of my hair.”

Yeah fucking right, was I going to let of her hair. She’d just called mebaby.

Before I could think better of it, I rolled her underneath me. She went willingly, laughing brightlyas I kissed my way down her body and woke her up quite thoroughly. I stilled her hand when she tried to reciprocate, knowing that we’d never leave this bed if I let her touch me.

Reyna just shrugged, jumping up and trotting into the kitchen. On her way out, she threw on one of the old, ragged flannels I’d stored here, the hem falling to her mid thigh.

When she rounded the corner, I fell back on the bed, dragging both my hands over my face. As if to taunt me, a cloud slipped over the sun, dimming its light.

The cloud could go fuck itself.

I jumped out of bed, slipping on some loose pajama pants, then followed Reyna like a dog after its owner. Another sign that I was clearly losing my fucking mind.

When I came around the corner, Reyna was already at the stove, packing espresso into a pot. I walked towards her with clear intention and she stepped right out of my reach.

“Oh, no you don’t,” she said, batting my hands away. “Keep your hands to yourself until I can drink some coffee.”

I reached for her again, only for her to dart away. “I can wake you up. Again.”

“As powerful and skilled as you are,” she said, and I couldn’t help the smug grin that pulled to my lips, “You cannot cure a caffeine headache.” My eyebrows must have knitted together because she gasped. “Holy shit, you probably don’t even know what those are do you? Have you ever had one?”

“Not that I can recall,” I admitted. I wasn't dependent on coffee, but I felt like I needed it after last night. I had no idea what time it was, a problem in and of itselfbecause I woke up at six on the dot every day, but still felt tired.

Reyna laughed incredulously. “Of course, you can't. That would be a weakness. And we both know you don’t have those.”

You.

The word jumped into my head on its own accord.

I didn’t know who I was anymore. I wasn’t in control of my own mind.

I stood in silence, arms crossed and leaning against the counter and watching Reyna make her coffee while she rambled on about how studies showed that coffee actually was good for you and therefore a caffeine headache was really just the same thing as a side effect from life-saving medication and she shouldn’t, in fact, cut back on her cappuccino intake.

“Honey, you drink cappuccinos after dinner,” I said, feeling a grin pull at the corner of my lips.

Reyna’s eyes narrowed as she waved her teaspoon at me. “Those are decaf.”

I walked towards her before I knew what I was doing. “You do realize decaf still contains caffeine, yes?”

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