My face went up in flames, or at least it felt that way. A vivid memory of the bar pierced my thoughts, taking me back to his first words. Do you often kiss men you hardly know?
Exos smiled. “Night, princess.”
“N-night,” I stammered, my hip tingling as he released me. He di
dn’t turn around as he sauntered down the hallway, his suit clinging to his muscular form and leaving me salivating for the body beneath.
This is seriously fucked up.
I shouldn’t be lusting after him. I shouldn’t be lusting after anyone. I should be focused on finding a way home.
“You, uh, kissed Exos?” Titus asked, his palm sliding away from me as he moved around to face me, his expression unreadable.
“Um.” I cleared my throat. “Sort of. It was a dare.”
“A dare?” he asked, raising a brow.
“Like in truth or dare.”
He frowned. “I don’t understand.”
“It’s a game. You’ve never played?”
He slowly shook his head, causing me to smile.
“It’s dumb. You’re not missing much. But essentially, it’s played with a group of friends, and you pick a truth or a dare. A truth might be, like, what’s the craziest place you’ve had sex? And you have to answer honestly. A dare could be something like, go kiss that guy at the bar. That was my dare—to kiss Exos. Rick can be…” I trailed off, the thought of my friend sending a jolt through my heart.
I didn’t even get to say goodbye.
Just whisked away to this other realm, without a thought of my past.
Would my friends miss me? Would they come looking for me? My grandparents died last year, leaving me enough money to make it through school. But I had no other family.
Titus cupped my cheek, his forest-green eyes full of emotion. “I’m sorry about your friend.”
“Me, too,” I whispered, clearing my throat again. “C-can you tell me about my mom?” I asked, needing the distraction. “Tell me why I’m here? How I’m here?”
His throat bobbed as he nodded. “Yeah. Of course.” He glanced at the corridor of doors before us. “Uh, in your room?”
“Yes, please.” I didn’t want to be out in the open any longer. I led the way with him trailing behind me, his hands tucked into his jeans as if he were trying not to touch me again. Probably because of Exos’s little reveal. The kiss hardly counted, but yeah, I’d been pretty inappropriate that night. Then again, so had he, since he let me kiss him.
I pushed the memory from my head, focusing on the present.
Titus followed me into the room, his demeanor reserved as I closed the door.
He glanced around the flowery space, eyeing the tree in the center of the room and the vines climbing over the walls. “It’s definitely Spirity in here.”
“What’s your place like?” I wondered.
“Black.” He smirked. “I like to burn things.”
“Apparently, so do I,” I grumbled, lowering my gaze. How much damage had I caused without meaning to? Not that I could entirely blame myself. It wasn’t like someone had trained me on how to be a… a… fae.
Fuck, I really do believe this, don’t I?
I shivered, not wanting to admit to the logic flowing through my mind. This sort of shit was impossible. Or it should be. Yet, I couldn’t deny all the magic flowing around me, the fact that flames literally shot out of my hands, that I’d destroyed a wall of, uh, vines? I shook my head, trying to clear it.
Titus caught my chin, tilting my head back to stare warmly down at me. “You’ll learn to control it, Claire.”