Page 24 of Avenging Azalea

Chapter

Eight

FAWN

Titus was quiet tonight. I watched him as I picked at my dessert. He was never a huge talker, and he was trying his best to act normal, but it felt like a massive void had opened between us. I had no idea why. It was like an elastic band had been cut, and I was just waiting to be hit with the broken end.

I shifted uncomfortably under the weight of the silence.

“Thank you for the meal. It was perfect, and the strawberries are incredible,” I said, eating a forkful of the delicious cake.

Titus’s mouth twitched, and his eyes lifted from his uneaten dessert. My heart pounded in my chest unchecked. Normally, a glance like that made me blush. Instead, it chilled me to the bone.

“I’m happy you enjoyed it,” he said, picking up his glass of wine.

“You didn’t like it,” I asked, nodding to his plate.

“It’s perfect. I’m just not hungry tonight. I’ll have Chef wrap it up and save it for later.”

“Are you feeling okay?”

He folded his hands on the table and stared at me. I swallowed hard, feeling as small as I had the first time we met.

“You still love to ask a million questions.”

“I’m not sure that’s a habit I’ll ever break,” I teased and smiled.

“No, I suppose not. I prefer your curious mind. It’s part of your charm.”

I blushed and looked down at my cake. Titus hadn’t said that I was the most stunning girl in the world, but it felt like it.

“We should probably talk, though,” he said.

“Do you mind if we wait until after the movie? I’m really looking forward to it,” I said, desperate to hang on to my nerve for what I had planned.

He smiled wide. “You’re right. It’s your birthday. You call the shots.”

“Perfect, I’ll meet you in the movie room. Do you mind pouring me a glass of wine?”

His eyebrow lifted. “You’re not twenty-one yet.”

Heat raced throughout my body with his teasing.

“I know, but we’re not in public, and you just said that I call the shots. One glass won’t hurt, and I promise not to tell,” I said, standing.

He laughed, and I fought not to shiver.

“Tossing my words back at me…I see how it is. Alright, I’ll bring you a glass.”

“Thank you, I’ll be right back.”

The nervous shaking didn’t start until I got to my bedroom. I tried breathing deeply to calm myself down, but the jitters had me on the verge of panic. Grabbing the outfit from my closet, I walked into the bathroom to freshen up and moisturize every square inch of my body. I didn’t dare look in the mirror until I was totally dressed. The perfume that Titus had gotten me for Christmas was the perfect addition, and then I let my hair down so that it fell around my shoulders. Ready to face the future I wanted, I turned around to look.

“You can do this. Be the sexy woman you are,” I said to my reflection as I channeled my inner Steph.

Walking out of the bathroom, my higher-than-usual heels snagged on the rug, but I managed to catch myself before falling face first.

“Jesus, that would’ve been great. Break an ankle or something.”