Lara:
"You are supposed to hold it like this," she said, giving the stick back.
I secretly looked at Kash and our eyes connected.
There was deep affection in his gaze. The minute he saw trying to connect with his children, his deanor toward changed, and I liked it.
"Okay, and then what? I just hold it like this?" I asked, pretending to ask Amy.
"No, you are supposed to hold it over the fire. How will you roast it?" she complained, looking at with her big, cute eyes.
"Oh, but I am afraid. What if my hands burn from the fire?" I pouted.
She slapped her little forehead.
"You won’t get hurt. That is why you are holding it with a stick. Look, like this." She held it over the fire, and I drew closer to her.
"Wow, you are so good at it," I said as I kissed her head.
All the while, soone was seething with anger. Iris sat in her seat, her eyes fixed on .
I swear she hadn’t even blinked once. I guessed she was going to find out that just because she had given birth to a child, that did not an she would get him back.
I was going to use the sa kids she had used to try to steal him from to win him and even take the kids from her now.
"Kash, your daughter is a genius. Look, she’s making s’mores for !" I called out to him, partly to have his full attention and partly so soone else would notice what was going on.
Even though I could already tell, Iris had been staring, it was a little too fun to watch her suffer now that soone from her team was paying attention to .
I guessed it served her right, a bit of karma for always wanting Kash’s attention.
"Yeah, I know. Amy, where did you learn it from?" Kash teased her, and she giggled, looking so proud.
"I learned it from my daddy," she said with a smile.
It was the kind of joke Kash loved to pull on her, he had just taught her how to make them.
We all had a little too much fun. She made s’mores and then went ahead and sat down with her father once again.
"Amy, do you go to school?" I asked, keeping her involved in the conversation.
"No, I don’t," she replied softly. "Anymore."
That last word ca out like a slow murmur, as if from sowhere deep inside her, because she was busy focusing on the marshmallows.
"Sorry, what did you say? You used to go to school?" I asked.
They were still little, but sothing about her answer caught my attention.
Usually, werewolf kids started school at three or four, though they only learned about werewolf culture and hierarchy at that age.
"Amy, why don’t you co over here and let them have so ti together?"
As expected of Iris, she imdiately got nervous the mont she saw her daughter getting along with .
She called out to her, and I had to force a sad smile onto my lips as I t Kash’s eyes, my silent way of saying, ’Look what your ex-wife is doing. She doesn’t even like being kind to her daughter.’
Amy tiptoed away from us, and that was my cue to pout a little.
"You know what this makes feel like?" I murmured as I slid closer to Kash.
"What?" he asked softly, roasting a marshmallow for this ti.
"I think I have baby fever," I said gently, trying to stir sothing inside him.
But instead, he straightened up and leaned slightly away from .
"What?" I asked, my mood dropping at his reaction.
"Nothing. Did I say sothing?" he asked.
"Why are we planning a whole engagent when we could just get married directly?" I suggested.
He turned to , and there was a brief pause in his movents. I could see he was thinking, but I couldn’t tell what about.
"Say sothing. You’re making nervous," I said with a shaky laugh.
"I an, it’s your choice," he said simply.
I had expected him to say more, but it felt as if he wanted to escape the conversation.
"I don’t think we should keep eating all these," he said loudly after a beat. "Even the kids will get a stomachache if they eat too many."
I imdiately understood why he said it, Amy was now chatting animatedly with Luca.
I leaned back in my seat, exhaustion settling over . A flicker of fear rose in my chest, the fear of losing Kash and I didn’t want that to happen.
Finally, Iris stood up to tuck the kids in.
But they didn’t want to go, so they refused to sleep in the cabin, insisting instead that they would spend the night in the tents.
Once it was ti and Iris had tucked the kids into the tent, it was just Kash, Luca, and outside. Luca was still playing with the fire, while Kash seed done for the night. He got up and started walking toward the tent.
The tents were large, with inflatable beds inside, so I knew the kids would be fine.
But once Kash was gone, I saw Luca finally look up, and his eyes t mine. It was the strangest kind of stare, so intense that a chill ran down my spine.
He kept silently watching , still poking at the fire with his stick, his head slightly lowered.
It was the way he stared through his eyebrows in silence, then lowered his eyes again, that unsettled .
"So, when are you and Iris planning on getting married?" I asked, mostly to break the awkwardness, but also to learn more about Luca.
That way, I could get a better idea of Iris’s future plans too.
"Why?" he asked.
He didn’t seem like a very talkative man.
"Well, because in order for them to get married, they’ll have to reject each other," I said casually, slipping the information in.
I noticed how he stopped moving for a second before slowly nodding his head.
"And you want to ask Iris because you can’t ask Kash?" he asked, tilting his head and closing his eyes slightly, as if trying to read my mind and understand my intentions.
My back straightened under his judgntal tone.
"Well, if I tell Kash, he’ll reject her. But I just hope Iris isn’t using the kids to make him stay," I said quietly.
The mont the words left my mouth, Iris stepped out of the tent and I went silent.
User Comments
0 comments from readers