Page 34 of Serpentine
It’s stuck right on the tip of my tongue. Before I can say a thing, she huffs and gets out of the truck, waiting for me in front of it.
Fuck, now you’ve done it.
Guilt is an old bedfellow. As I get out and pocket the truck keys, I lead her into the store, where Alice waits to get her everything she needs.
Twin Pines is a small town with no chain stores, flashy people, or shops serving over-priced lattes. It’s a town with two stoplights, stores that smell like cinnamon year round, and fall vibes, even in summer.
Aella’s face transforms as she meets Alice. No doubt she veils her true feelings with the face she gives to the cameras back in her world. “Nice to meet you, I’m Aella.”
Alice takes her in, sizing her up as she does every customer.
She shoos me away, and I’m thankful for the reprieve now that I’ve royally stepped in it with Aella. I need to think of a way to make it better. To get her alone for a moment to apologize.
The hurt that had been on her face when she looked up at me had stabbed me right through the chest. It hurt more than anything I’ve ever experienced.
Once Alice and Aella have perused the entire place twice, Alice leads her into a dressing room with all her finds.
I wait for Alice to get busy behind the front counter before I sneak into the dressing room, slipping through the curtains with stealth.
Aella curses under her breath when she turns around and sees me. She’s in a pair of jeans, tag dangling from them. They’re unbuttoned, and her breasts are overflowing from a black bra.
“I’ll be right out,” she grits through her teeth.
But I don’t leave. “Listen, I’m sorry about what I said before. I shouldn’t have judged you. I shouldn’t have said that.”
She crosses her arms over her chest, and it only makes her breasts call to me more. “No, you shouldn’t have. I’m not what I seem, Miles. Nor do I want to be. I’ve spent my life feeling judged, the weight of the world’s eyes on me. The last few days are the first days that I haven’t. You ruined it.”
I open my mouth and shut it, not knowing what to say to fix it. She’s supposed to be our prisoner, but I’m not an idiot; she’s more. She has been since the moment I laid eyes on her. But she can’t be ours. She has to go back to where she belongs. This life isn’t for her.
“Aella, I—” I sigh, rubbing the bridge of my nose.
She rolls her eyes and turns as if to dismiss me with the action. Something in me snaps. I grab her upper arm, swinging her back around. It takes two steps to back her into the mirror behind her. She hisses as the cold glass touches her skin.
“Miles,” she says breathlessly.
I capture her lips and the end of her sigh as she melts into me.
I don’t kiss.
I ignore the thought as I slip my tongue into her mouth.
It’s heavy with emotion. It’s edged in hate. It’s everything.
Our mouths move in tandem, and we get what we need from the kiss: her, an apology in full, and me, reassurance that she feels what I feel. She hooks her leg behind mine, and I growl, pressing into her further.
“How are we doing in there?” Alice asks, breaking our mouths apart.
“Fine,” Aella squeaks, looking at me with blown pupils and red lips.
We both try to hide the kiss’s effect on us and keep our panting breaths silent, but that’s difficult when all I want to do is dive back into her mouth and kiss her until I take my last breath.
TWELVE
AELLA
Ibought some comfortable clothes, a few pairs of jeans, shirts, and underthings. Hopefully, I’d gotten enough. But the most important thing I’d left the Oakwood Boutique with was a tingle in my lips where Miles had been.
“Want to get some lunch before we go back home?” Miles asks.