Page 67 of AMS.TER.strum

‘I should tie you to the bed and keep edging you for badmouthing your perfect body.’

My body buzzes at the thought, still trying to digest the word perfect. ‘Fine…’

‘Not fine, Corrie. I have no recollection of those supposedly flawless bodies, because my memory storage had reached its capacity by one image only: yours.’

Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry…

‘How can you be so perfect?’ My voice sounds choked, because it is.

‘I’m doing my best to catch up with you.’ He immediately turns serious. ‘I’m far from perfect. But I will do all I can to give you the best version of myself. That I can promise you.’

‘So will I. I promise.’

He nods. ‘Now, will you let me put that toy to good use before the battery dies?’

‘It’s supposed to last for three hours.’

He smirks. ‘When fully charged. How long has it been used since?’

‘At my age, my memory isn’t what it used to be,’ I reply innocently.

His brow arches. ‘Then let’s be creative before this runs out of juice.’

Chapter Thrty-Three

Luuk

Thank you, bunny!

I get up to clean the toy, my eyes snagging on Corrie’s luscious body, her skin shimmering from the sheen of sweat. I hate that she felt she had to hide from me. My dating history is part of the conversation we need to have before I leave tomorrow morning. I didn’t want to ruin our perfect night with practicalities, especially since my plans aren’t completed yet. But the clock is ticking, so part of it will have to be now.

She doesn’t know yet that I have not been fooling around for at least a year. Since the last time I was here, that is, and it hit me like a freight train; a realization I already knew—that it’s her. I love her, after having fallen for her seven years ago, but that’s too early for her to hear it yet.

‘Be right back.’

Corrie’s sigh of bliss follows me as I walk to the bathroom. My bare foot steps on the “hairy carpet” in the living room—as Ada calls it—my toes tickled by the threads. Then it all happens in one second.

I shift my weight onto my left foot, and a sharp pain shoots straight to my brain, my surprised cry audible a few houses down. I jerk my foot back, but the carpet slides beneath me, and I’m airborne for a split second before landing with a heavy thud on the wooden floor.

Pain explodes through my shin, followed by the certainty that something has been seriously fucked up.

‘Luuk?’

‘Be careful, there’s glass on the carpet,’ I groan, trying to sit up and grab the bunny that bounced on its power button and is now looking as if it’s fucking hopping next to me.

Corrie walks in, her voice shocked when she sees me. ‘What happened?’

I lean against the couch. ‘I stepped on a piece of glass. Sorry for the blood stains on your carpet…’

‘I’m pretty sure it’s not glass…’ Corrie crouches and pats the carpet, discovering a tiny cube with very sharp corners—a fucking LEGO.

‘That can’t have been it. What I stepped on was like a drill boring right into my brain.’ I retract my foot slightly.

‘Welcome to the battlefield of parenthood.’ She turns crimson, pressing her lips together, as if she can take the words back.

‘How do you survive?’

‘I learned my lesson and now I always pat the carpet with my foot, before taking a step on it.’