Page 20 of Avenging Azalea

F: That’s perfect.

T: I’ll see you then.

I chewed on my bottom lip, my fingers hovering over the buttons. Giving in, I finally texted him again.

F: Are you working late tonight?

T: No, the usual, but I have a family dinner at my parent’s house.

My heart sank a little at the mention of his family. I’d only met them in passing, and each time, it was like Titus couldn’t wait to get me away from them. He acted like he was embarrassed to have me around.

F: I’d love to go sometime.

Little bubbles appeared and disappeared so many times that my anxiety over what he was going to say made my hands shake.

T: Trust me, no, you don’t. I don’t even want to go, but it’s mandatory.

I smiled at that.

F: Okay, I won’t eat all the Rocky Road ice cream then. You may need it when you get home.

T: LOL! Thank you, I’ll definitely need it. See you later, Little Bird.

I felt as light as a feather on the breeze when he used my nickname. He didn’t use it often, but when he did, my pulse raced, and I smiled like a fool.

F: See you later.

My palms were sweating, but I needed to be brave, so I sent another text.

F: xoxo

T: xo

I screeched, and the closest guard looked at me.

“Sorry, it was a…bee,” I said, and then ran into the house and up the stairs. The dogs greeted me and chased me to my room.

Collapsing onto my bed, I squealed and kicked my feet. He answered with an xo. He never did that before. There was hope. There was real, honest-to-goodness hope in my chest.

The bed shifted as Bella, Daisy, Sheba, Hailey, and Holly jumped up, making the California king suddenly feel very tiny.

Shadow’s absence could still be felt around the house. I laid my hand on Sheba, comforting her as the weight of the loss still tugged at me as I was positive it did for her. They had gone everywhere together. It was my love of animals that made me want to become a veterinarian, but I didn’t know if I’d ever get used to losing them. A piece of my heart broke off the day we put Shadow down, and I spent days crying non-stop.

“Don’t worry, girl. I’ll never leave you.” Laying down, I held Sheba tight as my plans for tomorrow played out like a ballet in my mind. “Give me ten minutes, and I’ll take you all for a walk,” I said, yawning as I closed my eyes for a quick nap.

Chapter

Seven

TITUS

T: xo

What the hell was I thinking sending that? I stared at the two letters, which meant something far more significant when placed together, and shook my head in disgust. My feelings were getting out of hand, and reeling them in was becoming nearly impossible. The bigger issue was that I didn’t want to stop myself.

Too many times, I’d almost reached out to run my fingers through Fawn’s hair or said something wildly inappropriate, like she was stunning and made my heart race. I wasn’t immune to the way she looked at me or how the tension between us had grown over the last six months. It was easy to see that her feelings had grown into more, as had mine, but we danced around the topic, never actually saying anything and yet saying it all.

Fawn was an addiction that grew more insistent with each passing day. But we would never work. Yes, I could fuck her and get it out of both of our systems, but to what end? It would destroy what we had currently, which I didn’t want. Sex wasn’t worth that. Fawn meant far too much to me.