𝐆𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 [𝟏𝟖+] ✔

37

Are you in love with him?

God, I cannot get that question out of my head.

I haven't slept much, far too paranoid to fall asleep in Eric's bed in case someone had come for him, and I wouldn't have time to hide. But I also couldn't leave him. So I let him sleep on me through the night, counting his breaths against my skin, how many times he reaches for me even though I've been right below him. I had watched him, noticing how he's never at peace, not even when asleep.

It's morning now, and I'm in his arms. My band tells me it's seven, and I see two messages from Ains, complaining that her intense cramps have kept her awake. Another from my mum, informing me that our talk will need to wait until later as she is busy and away from the manor.

Works for me.

The guard duties switch at eight, so I have an hour to sneak to my own room without being noticed. That's probably the bonus of Eric and I having the top floor with the lower-ranked guards. He can tell them to stay on the ground floor and they won't bat an eyelid at the orders.

Skye and Diesel are lying at our feet. I had gone for them after I helped him into bed last night, promising that I'd be back when he reached for my hand. A part of me wanted to stay in my own room, so we don't get caught, but I'm far too reckless and addicted to the way he touches me in his sleep to deny myself of it.

Plus, this version of him is cute. And I don't get it very often, so I'm going to bask in this before he flips the switch, drops his mask, and goes back to being... well, Eric.

Feeling his soft breaths against my neck, a strong, heavy arm bracketing around my waist, and his chest to my back, I'm still stuck in a trance, a fake reality that we can be like this all the time. I wish I could stay here forever, tracing my fingertips along the ink on his wrist, his lips absently pressing to my nape every ten minutes that has my pulse racing.

It's just the two of us, in our own fucked up world, or at least I wish we were. Drowning out the surroundings, I try to calm the erratic beats of my heart, wanting to enjoy this, even if it's for a few more minutes.

Would we find each other in another life?

If Eric wasn't so forbidden to me, would we still want one another?

A wave of excitement passes through me. Yes, for once, I feel confident enough to believe we would have found each other one way or another.

He's hard, and the feel of the rigid muscle against my behind makes me back myself up into him. Eric sleepily groans in my ear and tightens his hold. "Killing me."

"Your morning wood is killing me. I'm not sure if you're turned on or not."

His chest rattles in silent laughter and I let out a giggle.

Smiling, I bite my lip. Waking up in his arms, the feel of him all around me, I really do wish we could stay here forever. Maybe if I suggest we hide somewhere, we could spend the remaining years together?

Would he even want that? Do I?

His grasp tightens around me, pulling me from my annoying mind. "I thought you said you weren't a hugger?"

"Not," he grumbles a one-worded response, shifting to close any distance between us and burying his nose into my hair. "Sleep. Tired. No talk."

Rolling my eyes, I look down at his limbs around me like a vice. Not a hugger, my arse. Intertwining our fingers, I drag our hands to where my heart is steadily strumming, holding them there until I can feel Eric eventually fall back to sleep, his body becoming more like a dead weight against me.