Tame Me If You Can

Chapter 30

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Chapter 30

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"Baby, I gotta leave."

"Hmmph..."

He chuckles. "You're such a grumpy cat in the mornings..."

"Only a psycho wakes up at 5 AM." I force my eyes open to see him beside my bed, face too close for my morning breath. I bury my face in the pillow.

"Thanks. I'm a psycho now, huh?" he sneaks his hand under the covers and tickles me.

I curl into a ball and groan, "If you went home, you would've gotten more sleep. Don't you know how detrimental sleep deprivation is..."

"It's fine." I hear the smile in his voice. "It's worth it if it means I have you cuddled in my arms. Now give me a kiss so I can go."

"Mmph..." I hold my breath as he presses his lips on mine. Then I maneuver my face into his chest, wrapping my arms around him. I take a deep breath and sigh, enveloped in his scent.

"Do you not want me to go?" he murmurs.

"No..."

"Here..." He pulls back and takes his shirt off. "Lift your arms up."

I frown. "You'll freeze..." But he's already pulling it over my head, covering my naked body.

"I have a jacket in my car." He kisses my forehead, then smirks. "Now get some rest, I drained you last night."

I smile. He does too. Then he leaves, and I roll over to hug the pillow he slept on and sigh.

~

Today is a good day.

It just is.

The sky is clear, the sun is bright. There's a quality of cheerfulness in the air.

It's the type of morning to listen to music and dance around the apartment.

It's also abnormally difficult to concentrate on work, and oddly enough, I'm not beating myself up for it. In fact, I'm in the mood to go to a park and have some ice cream. So that's what I do.

~

"Jerry, we need a plan," I tell the domesticated rodent, who's stuffing his cheeks with hazelnuts. "Do you have any experience in child custody trials?"

The furry fatass rotates the nut with frantic speed, as if checking the quality. I look around the park, studying the many kinds of mothers with their kids, looking for a clue.

I have less than ten days to prepare — courtesy of Kayden's overconfidence in my abilities. Though, from the look of guilt when he told me, I assume Nat is the one who pushed for an early date just to hurt his chances. And knowing him, he probably failed to argue against it.

Which triggers me to try harder, to fight for him, to pull him out of brainwashed chains.

"I suppose...I could use my own mom to study." I frown at the sinking realization. "Might as well get something out of my visit, huh?"

~

"Did you lose weight?" my mom asks when I visit her after work.

We're under the fig tree on patio chairs, an excuse to get some vitamin D, but really, I just didn't want the cigarette stench of her apartment to ruin Jake's shirt. He couldn't come to class earlier because of some work emergency. But the idea of not seeing him was so unfulfilling, I made an outfit out of his shirt so I could keep it on.