Page 90 of Monster's Obsession
“You told me before that the lake next door was run by Creed’s circle. Does he own this too?”
“Of course. The places are open to all who work at the castle, and that’s why we have royal guards patrolling the entrances.”
At the top of the hill, we found a blanket already laid out under a tree, and I took a seat, crossing my legs, staring out at the landscape. “We need to come here more often because I keep discovering places I’m loving in the city. Not everything is towers and bridges and lava heat. This is paradise.”
"This city is incredible, and I want you to fall in love with it like I have. To see why we fight so hard to hold onto it. This is my home, your home, and there are so many things I can show you. I love hearing your reactions.”
“I can’t wait.” I grew jittery. “So, what’s for lunch then?”
Ash opened up the basket and started pulling out food. The first was long white worms tangled together and wrapped up in plastic.
“Eww, I’ll pass on whatever that is.”
“Intestines. I heard they are a delicacy on earth.”
“Where did you hear that? From your little book? If so, cross it out forever.”
He chuckled, and I watched in amusement as this man, who belonged on the cover of a fashion magazine, unpacked the picnic basket he’d made for me. I was swooning hard right then, something inside me tightening because I could easily see myself spending the rest of my life with him. Which was crazy, but I was completely smitten. Was it possible to fall for someone so hard that you’d even consider eating strange intestines if it made him happy?
By the look of the array of foods he’d brought, there were only two edible items.
A salad. And more of those delicious chocolate leaves I couldn’t get enough of.
I passed on the dish that resembled grey lungs, and especially the gelatinous slimy slug cubes that told me Bane prepared this picnic basket. I dove into the salad though. It came with little blue tomatoes and something white sliced into matchsticks. They tasted like radish, only sweeter.
“I love it here,” I murmured with a mouthful of salad, while Ash picked up the bowl of gelatinous cubes. Why did he have to go with that one first?
“Just so you know, before you eat those things, I may never be able to kiss you again,” I teased. And I kind of wasn’t lying…I didn’t want to think about slime while kissing my gorgeous god-like monster.
His face suddenly fell at my words like I’d just insulted him, and he stuffed the plate back into the basket. “Oh.”
My heart broke because I thought I hurt him.
“Ash, I’m only joking. You can eat them,” I cooed, hating myself for saying that.
“No, no, it’s all good. I’m not that hungry anyway.” He leaned back on his arm, while guilt was killing me.
I set my salad down and crawled over to him, then pulled out a bowl from the basket. “Please, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. Sometimes I have major foot-in-mouth problems.”
Grabbing a squishy cube with two fingers, I brought it up to his mouth. “I promise I’ll kiss you after you have one. Will you do me the honor?” I tried my best to sound playful, but truthfully, I felt like crap for saying that.
“It’s okay, I understand. Things will take time for you to get used to them.” He smiled at me, but he sounded strained.
“Yeah, but I was rude and I feel l like shit, and—”
But just then, Ash twisted to get up, bumping into me from his sheer momentum, knocking me over, the cube flinging into the air. He came right after me to catch me, both of us now tangled and bursting out laughing at the chaos as we rolled on the grass.
It also happened to be exactly when the cube dropped right into my open, laughing mouth. I choked, frantically trying to twist around to spit it out, except I ended up biting into it. And I was ready to start vomiting.
“Babe, are you okay?”
“I-I…” A burst of flavor exploded across my tongue, like the sweetest pineapple in the world. I moaned, chewing it, half grossed out that I’d eaten a slimy snail…and another part wanting more. To my surprise, it slid down my throat without me gagging. “O.M.G. I swallowed it.”
“Oh, did you die?” Ash said sarcastically, holding me in his arms as we both lay in the field of flowers. “Was it as disgusting as you thought it was?”
“Today, I’m going to keep eating my words, aren’t I? Because it was actually freaking delicious. Why the hell does a slimy slug taste good? That’s so…weird.”
Ash was laughing hysterically at this point.