I sat up, brows knitted together. “Is everything okay?” I asked, gazing at the scars on his back. They looked just like the ones from my dream.

“You have to go,” he said. “Now, Dani.”

My eyes widened. “No, Eros. I’m not leaving you like this. What’s wrong?” I trailed my fingers down his back. Was that drink affecting him? Was he going to get sick?

After what he went through with me at the Halloween party, I wasn’t about to let him get sick right here, right now when I could help him. “Eros…”

He jumped off of the bed and rushed to the door, keeping his head low.

I wrapped his sheets around my body and followed him out of the room. He rushed into the bathroom and slammed the door shut. For a few moments, I gazed at it—heart racing. Then, I knocked on it. “Eros, are you okay?”

“Leave, Dani. Now.”

“I’m not going to leave you when you’re sick.”

“Go before something happens.”

My brows furrowed together. What was the worst that could happen? He could projectile vomit or something, but that was it. That’d be gross, but I didn’t care.

I lightly banged on the door. “Please, Eros. I just want to help.”

Another door opened in the apartment, and Zane walked out—shirtless. His eyes widened for a moment and wandered down my body. “Dani, what are you doing here?”

“Eros is sick,” I said, nodding to the door.

His gaze flickered between me and the door a few times. “Let me take you back to your apartment,” he said, tensely.

“If you fucking touch her Zane, I’ll kill you!” Eros said. I could hear his deep breathing from behind the door, and I gulped. I didn’t want to leave him like this.

Zane looked me in the eye. “Please, Dani. You need to leave. Eros will call you when he feels better.”

I frowned. “Are you sure?” I asked. When he nodded, I sighed and placed my hand on the wooden door. “Feel better, Eros,” I said.

He didn’t answer.

It was stupid, but I felt a little hurt. He had helped me when I was sick, and he didn’t even want me to help him when he was sick.

I retrieved my clothes from his room, gazing around at the sleek interior for only a moment, then walked back to my apartment. My mind was racing with a thousand different thoughts: how I was so close to letting him take me, how I could still smell his cinnamon scent, how I wished that he never got sick, how I hoped that he was alright.

Maria was flipping pancakes when I got home. The early morning sun was gleaming through the windows, soft Christmas music was playing throughout the apartment, she turned around when she heard the door open. “Someone’s home a little late.”

“I—uh—just had to get some things at the store,” I said.

Bacon sizzled on the stove, and she waved the spatula at me. “Why don’t you have breakfast with me and you can tell me about the things you bought at the store.” She made two plates for us, and I sighed. “I made your favorite!”

My stomach growled, and I cursed at it. She placed our plates at the counter and hopped up onto a stool. “So, how was the date?”

“What date?”

“With Eros.” She playfully rolled her eyes at me. “I saw you come home with him this morning.”

I grabbed a piece of bacon and broke it in half, letting the grease glisten on my fingers. “It was good.”

“What’d you do?” She stuffed a forkful of pancakes in her mouth.

“Stuff.”

“Sexy stuff?” she asked. I pressed my lips together, cheeks flushing. “Oh, my gosh. You did, didn’t you?”

There was no point in even trying to lie to her anymore. She was going to find out one way or another. Zane would probably tell her that I was in his apartment—half-naked and banging on the bathroom door for Eros to come out.

“Kind of,” I said.

She banged her fist on the table, making the utensils jump. “Finally! The sexual tension between you two was killing me. Every time I was around, I thought I was going to go crazy for you.” She smirked, rested her forearms on the table, and leaned forward. “How good is he? Is he, you know, well-endowed?”

I shook my head at her and smiled softly. “I don’t know. We didn’t have sex.”

“Ugh,” she said, throwing her head back. “Why not?”

“I think he got sick.” I didn’t want her to pry anymore, so I leaned forward. “So… how are you and Zane?”

She took a long sip of her orange juice. “Thinking about it makes me want to day-drink.” She stabbed her pancakes. “I was actually starting to like him, and I think he started to actually like me too. But…” She sighed. “Last night he asked me if I would consider an open relationship.”

“Oh.” An open relationship? That was like what Kasey had with Aarav and Mycah. “Would you consider it?”

She twirled her fork and gazed down. “I’m not sure. I’m not good at the whole relationship thing, I have trust issues and get jealous over the smallest things.”

“You don’t seem like a jealous person.”

“I hide it well.” She parted her lips and took a deep breath. “My dad cheated on my mom when I was little, and it screwed me up. I’m trying to work on it with my therapist though.” She gnawed on the inside of her cheek. “But I’m scared.”

I walked around the table and pulled her into a hug. “Take a leap of faith and let him know how you feel.”

OceanofPDF.com

CHAPTER 27

OceanofPDF.com

Dani

Eros sat on my bed, hands posted on the pillows behind him, staring right at me with his demonic black eyes. I crawled over, knelt in front of him, and brushed my fingers against one of his curved horns. He sighed and pushed his head against my hand.

I gripped it—its ridged texture tickling my palm—then brushed my fingers down the side of his face. He cupped my head in his hands and gazed into my eyes. “I’m sorry,” he said.

My brows furrowed together. “For what?”

He breathed deeply, taking my hands in his. For a moment, there was so much uncertainty in his eyes. “For kicking you out yesterday.”

“It’s okay. You were sick,” I said like I was actually talking to him.

“No, I wasn’t.”

“You-you weren’t?”

He paused and gazed down at our hands. His ring was pressed against my skin and looked as if it was glowing against it. When he gazed back at me, his eyes were still black. They were so big, so beautiful, so breathtaking.

“I couldn’t let you see me,” he said.

“What do you mean?”

“I couldn’t let you see me,” he said again.

I still didn’t understand. “I’m sorry… I don’t know what you mean.” I had seen him almost every day since that Sunday morning when he caught me dancing around my apartment in only my panties.

He placed my hands on his face and moved them across his skin, then to the horns on his head again. His eyes fluttered close in pure bliss as I trailed my fingers up them. “This me,” he whispered. His voice sounded so vulnerable.

This him. The him in my dreams? I shook my head. The him in my dreams wasn’t the real him—even though a part of me fantasized about it.

I trailed my fingers back down his face and grasped it gently. He reopened his eyes, and I drank in their darkness. Then, I pressed my lips to his.

This him or the real him; it didn’t matter.

I wanted him. I wanted him so badly.

I opened my eyes, a feeling of sadness washing over me. Eros was gone faster than I wanted him to be. Hell, I wished that I could stay in dreamland forever and just be with him—the him in my dreams.