He took a seat across from me, and we ate in silence.“Thank you,” I whispered when I finished. The sound of pounding coming from outside probably drowned out my words, but Reigh tilted his head in response and continued eating.I took a sip of my coffee, feeling Reigh’s eyes on me. His gaze turned
CHARLOTTEI laid on my back and stared at the ceiling.My thoughts and emotions were a mess, a jumbled-up mix of feelings I didn’t want to get into. I let one of my hands fall to my neck until my fingers brushed over my mark, over the smooth plane of healed skin, only disturbed slightly by its prese
CHARLOTTE“What if we crash?” I whispered to Madeline, my fingers clutching the wheel of the very expensive car almost fearfully.Madeline laughed and whipped out her phone to take a picture of my nervous but excited face. I frowned at her, but at least she wasn’t grumbling about how inane it was to
Disgusting.I hid any reaction I might have at that, but even when he left I couldn’t stop the creeping feeling that slid down my spine at his stare.Men were weird.I busied myself with sorting through tomorrow’s reservation until I was interrupted by a woman’s voice calling out to me. My manager g
CHARLOTTE I stepped closer and eyed the books. They were all textbooks, textbooks and materials that fit into the course I was taking. What the…? My hands trailed over the spines. A few of them were books I couldn’t even find in the library. But here they were, sitting pretty on the shelf, brand
I returned to my room and continued my assessment of the shelf and the books on it. From the larger textbooks to the smaller ones, everything was carefully ordered and stacked. The intentionality behind this struck me hard. I looked away. My gaze shifted around my room, landing on the table where C
CHARLOTTEThe scent of coffee lured me into the kitchen.I smiled when I saw the pot of coffee being brewed as it always was. It was a little thing, but it was something that I’d started looking forward to every morning since the first time I had it. I walked off to the fridge first to get myself s
“What’s in the cup?” He asked, his tone wasn’t particularly friendly. Reigh bit down on his lower lip to keep from bursting out into a laugh and giving her away. “Water,” Sarah said in an extremely high-pitched note. I couldn’t tell if Taide believed her or not, but he looked away from her and mut
CHARLOTTE I pulled my curls into a bun as I walked down the stairs, my feet moving slowly against the wooden steps. The house was quiet, too quiet, but that was normal these days. My thoughts were scattered until a flicker of movement caught my eye. A flash of black streaked across the foyer. I st
CHARLOTTE Taide was growing out his hair. I sat on the edge of my bed, watching him lean over the mirror on my dresser. His hands combed through his dark hair, smoothing it back and letting it fall forward again. It was longer than I’d ever seen it, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it yet. S
A childish part of me felt like defending that Emma had started it, but why did it matter? It shouldn’t matter and I tried to make myself believe that. Taide’s attention shifted away from the menu to me, and I cleared my throat before turning my gaze from Caeson and down to the menu like I had
CHARLOTTE After a short drive, Taide pulled up in the parking lot of the small restaurant that was a hotspot amongst students in the area. The main area was rowdy and full of students eating and talking loudly, but Taide led me past there and into a quieter, more ambient area. It was still c
CHARLOTTE Taide held the door open and shot me a knowing look. But I didn’t move, I remained in one spot, crossed my arms and pouted. “But Taide—” “I don’t want to hear it,” he cut me off, his expression deep and serious. My lips snapped shut, I sensed that there was no point in arguing. So, wi
I pulled them both back into the house and then to the kitchen. With a small exhale, I let go of their hands, immediately missing the comfort and warmth their touches gave me. “I need to find Madeline,” I told them. “Do you know if she’s back?” Just like Taide, she’d been gone almost all day. Rei
CHARLOTTE Caeson walked further outside, his hands buried deep in his pockets as he eyed the three of us with distaste. He drew closer and said with a slight bite to his tone, “Don’t let my interruption stop you,” then lowered himself onto the bench and met my eyes. “But then, you didn’t seem to
CHARLOTTE I thought about how a whole day had passed since the big sibling swap, and I still hadn’t fully processed it. As I sat in the living room, lost in thought when I heard a noise coming from the backyard. Curious to see if it was who I’d been waiting for all day, I got up and walked thro
CHARLOTTE My life… might have been in danger. It echoed in my head, but like a muted siren. Maybe it was because I’d been overloaded with more information than I knew what to do with. Maybe I was just having the world’s slowest reaction to the scariest possible news a person could ever hear.