Chapter 21

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I open my eyes.

I blink a couple of times as early morning light streams onto the bed, groan – Ugh, school – and stretch. The room smells warm, homely – different than usual, though my sleep hazed mind can't figure out why. I blink again.

And then, with an almost painful jolt, the events of last night come back to me.

Weird cupids attacked me and Charlie, a Matchmaking Agent's heart was taken, a body is missing.

My heart thumps.

Cupid and I kissed.

I sit upright and look beside me. The dark pink pillow is crumpled, slept on, but vacant.

Where is he?

My eyes dart around my room, noting that his bow and arrows are no longer propped up against the full-length mirror in the corner of my room. I feel a pang of panic, mixed with hurt. Has he left me?

It's then that I realize what the homely scent is, wafting through my door that is slightly ajar.

Bacon.

It provokes a stomach rumble.

I look at the clock by the bedside table: seven o clock. Dad will have left for work a good hour or so ago. And he never cooks.

Is Cupid making breakfast?

A smile tugs at the corner of my lip.

I get out of bed, pad across the carpet, and pull skinny jeans and a green sweater. I tie my unkempt hair into a knot on top of my head, then barefoot I tip-toe downstairs. I peer around the door to the kitchen.

Cupid has his back to me – facing the hob. He's wearing the same, unwashed clothes, as yesterday- creases criss-cross across his grey top. The sunlight reflects off the bronze in his hair – stuck up in tufts due to him just getting out of bed - as he flips strips of bacon. His bow and arrows are placed haphazardly on the center of the wooden kitchen table. I look at them pointedly.

"You better hope that my dad doesn't come home early..." I say.

He turns around, one hand still on the pan. His ocean eyes widen slightly as they focus on me, then his face cracks into a grin.

"Because you had a Love God in your room last night?" he wiggles his eyebrows, "Because I've left my bow and arrows on the table? Or because I'm stealing his bacon?"

I laugh.

"All of the above," I go to stand beside him and look into the sizzling pan. "What's all this?!"

"Couldn't sleep. Not after my brother's message..." I notice his fist clench around the panhandle, whitening his lightly tanned knuckles. His strong jaw hardens. Then he looks at me and his eyes soften. He grins, "Plus – you were snoring. And muttering in your sleep..."

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