“I’ll only be happy when you get out of bed before you screw your day to pieces.” A few seconds later after I swore up and down that I was definitely getting up, she slid off the mattress and padded across the carpet toward the closed door.
That was when panic hit me full-force, and I'd scrambled off the bed to follow her. “Where are you going, Lil?” I demanded, nothing the desperation dripping from my voice. With her shoulders trembling slightly with laughter, she shook her head and tossed a mischievous grin behind her.
“I’m wearing a bathing suit. Please don’t tell me you’ve lost all your common sense since I left?”
Ignoring the rare display of what Lily had always called “Evie-esque sarcasm” from my soft-spoken and sweet sister, my next question stopped her in her tracks. “Will ... will you be back?”
She faced me slowly, a few strands of hair tumbling out of her hairband as she moved her head up and down in an effort to put my mind at ease. Her grin faded away to a sad smile that sent every feel imaginable tumbling through me. “You know I will,” she swore. Then, rolling her brown eyes, she’d shrugged her shoulders. “You know, as long as you get your lazy butt out of bed.”
Those words, and Lily’s promise to return, ripped me out of my sleep. I sat up in bed abruptly, dragging in a deep breath, my hands reaching out in the darkness as if I’d be able to touch my sister if I tried hard enough. It wasn’t possible, and I hugged my arms around myself and squeezed my eyes together because she was gone. Again. And no matter how much I dreamt about her, how much I thought about her, that would always be our reality.
I’d stayed like this for a long time, with my breathing pushing in and out slowly, until a strong hand touched the small of my back. It ran carefully up my spine before touching my shoulder.
“Are you alright?”
Forcing my eyes open, I glanced down at Rhys’ sleepy, confused smile. “I am,” I said.
“You don’t look alright, Evelyn.” He’d started to sit up beside me, but I stopped him, pressing my palm against the middle of his ripped chest. “What are you doing?” he yawned.
Glancing at the alarm clock on his nightstand to see that it was only a few minutes before five and we had a few hours of rest left, I leaned in close to him. He feathered his fingers over my cheek before tucking a strand of long chestnut hair behind my ear. “I’m going back to sleep and so should you. I promise I’m fine.” Because even though dreaming about Lily tore me up inside, there would always be something so comforting, so beautiful, that came with those moments with her.
“I’m up,” I’d whispered to myself after Rhys quickly fell asleep. “And I promise I’m not going to mess everything up.”
Now, two and a half hours later, Rhys looks across his tiny kitchen at me as I walk into the room and take a seat at the small breakfast nook. “Good morning,” he drawls.
Though I didn’t actually go back to sleep after dreaming about Lily, I only climbed out of his bed ten minutes ago. After brushing my teeth and washing my face, I took a few minutes to respond to an excited email from Kendra, who I’ll be seeing next week, before coming in here to join him. “I have finals today. There’s absolutely nothing good about it.”
Downing the rest of his energy drink, he leans back against the counter and lifts one of his off-black eyebrows. I know what’s coming—he’s going to ask me about this morning. Keeping my gaze down for a moment, I open my unrefrigerated bottle of water, which Mac swears up and down is more beneficial to my singing voice than my usual tea and honey, and take a sip.
Finally, I meet his sea blue eyes head on and work my lips into a reassuring smile. “Okay, let me start over since that was pretty bitchy.” I cross my bare legs, which draws Rhys' gaze down for just a second before he searches my eyes again. “Morning, Mr. Delane.”
“You were talking in your sleep, Evelyn.” He crumbles the energy drink can and sinks it into the trashcan a couple feet away from me with ease. “Don’t tell me you’re nervous about today.”
I start to tell him about Lily, but then I think better of it. For starters, I’m selfish. That moment, even if it was all a dream, is something I want solely for myself. And then there’s the fact I have my voice final in an hour and a half. Somehow, I don’t think me showing up red-faced and flustered due to the tears I’ll be unable to stop will do anything to help my performance or grade. And I’ve discovered that those grades mean a lot to me. While I did okay on my final performance last semester—a very high “B,” as Professor Cameron loves to remind me—I want to ace it this time.
I need to do better.
Rhys rubs his thumb and forefinger over his chin, his eyes questioning. “I'm assuming that silence is a yes.”
“Cameron is scary as hell sometimes,” I reply, pausing for a second as he starts across the kitchen, striding directly toward me, “so of course I’m nervous. I told Nathan I’d switch advisors with him, but I’m pretty sure Ackerman is easy on him, so he’s not going for—” My breath rushes out of my body when Rhys’ hand closes around my wrist, and he jerks me out of my chair and up against his naked, muscular chest. He’s warm and hard, his incredible scent screwing with my senses, and I clear my throat. “If you make me late for my exam, I swear I’m moving back in with Corinne next year.”
“Bullshit, Evelyn.”
“I’m being serious,” I warn, pulling my brows together and pressing my lips into a thin line.
But his cocky grin, and the way his eyes seem to see right through me, tells me he doesn’t buy that for even a second. I’ve spent this entire semester splitting my nights between his place and the room I share with Corinne, and having my belongings all over the place is a nuisance. Last month, when Rhys asked if I’d move in with him next year since his roommate’s contract in Brazil was extended, I was apprehensive at first. The only thing I could think of was my parents, most specifically my mother’s reaction—although she likes Rhys and had even spent part of our spring break with us in Key West, I didn’t think she’d go for me living with him. When I pulled her aside to talk to her on the last day of the break, though, she surprised me. Instead of freaking out about me moving in with a guy I’ve known for nine months, she gave me her silent blessing.
And then she sent me a link of all the teen pregnancy movies on Netflix. It was typical of my mom, but I welcomed it. At least we’re getting our relationship on track, even if my dad has been hot and cold with me ever since Mom filed for divorce last year.
At the tiny smile that flits across my lips, Rhys frames my face with his hands and tilts my gaze up to his. His stare is intense as he studies my expression, looking for answers. “Since you’re not gonna tell me what’s wrong, let me ask you this: You won’t be this distracted while you’re singing today, will you?”
Heat tingles down my spine as his fingers massage against my temples, but I manage to shake my head. “Mmm, no.”
“There’s that mmm again.” Laughing, he lowers his forehead to mine, the tips of our noses together, our lips nearly touching, and our eyes locked. “You’ll do great.”
“You have to say that. You’re my voice instructor,” I say, and he releases a little growl before turning us around. Lifting me up, he sits me on the nearest countertop, almost knocking over a carousel of coffee pods in the process. “You have to be in the music department soon to help Cameron with finals,” I remind him, a pang of regret crawling through my chest. It settles in the pit of my stomach, causing me to heave a tiny sigh. “Rhys, I—”
But he cuts me off. His lips skim mine, soft and warm, turning that regret into a wave of longing that crashes through me. When he starts to draw away, I shake my head fiercely, digging my fingers into his black hair and pulling him closer to me. His tongue spreads my lips, plunging roughly into my mouth. He tastes like the energy drink he just finished, and as we wrap ourselves around each other, I decide it’s the best thing I’ve ever tasted. Period.