Page 73 of Wildfire
“Aurora, don’t…”
“It’ll help me figure out what’s wrong,” I say, covering my nose as I step into the stall.
“Ror, you’re going to flood everywhere.”
“No, I’m not. It’ll probably just go down.”
I press the lever down and the plumbing makes a sound I’ve never heard before.
ICAN FEELRUSS’S EYESon me from across the kitchen counter, but I’m not giving him the satisfaction of looking at him.
“I did tell you,” he says smugly.
“Shut up. I don’t wanna hear it.”
After I flooded the bathroom and we had to evacuate the kids, we finally have them resettled in the main building. Thankfully, because we do movie nights in here, there were already mats for them to use, and Cooper, the senior working tonight, was able to guide us to the sleeping bags.
I’d like to think that the kids sensed the stress radiating off me, because none of them have tried me and they all lay down on their makeshift beds straightaway. There’s a kitchen attached to the main room where we make drinks and snacks in the evening, and that’s where I spend the next fifteen minutes guzzling whipped cream straight from the can.
Russ moves around the table until he’s standing beside me. He nudges me with his hip gently, so I nudge back, and before I know it, I’m on top of the counter with a huge man between my legs.
“What can I do to make you feel better?” he asks, tucking my hair behind my ears on both sides.
“Build a time machine and go back to before I flushed that toilet.”
“I could do that. Might take me a little bit of time, though.”
I point the can toward him and he opens his mouth, letting me squirt whipped cream onto his tongue. “If you could go back in time and change something, what would you change?”
It’s a question I think about a lot, which is silly because it’ll neverhappen, but for some reason I love to torment myself with how I’d have done things differently.
His hands rub up and down my thighs gently and he concentrates on watching that instead of looking at me, until he eventually shrugs. “Nothing.”
“Nothing? You wouldn’t change mistakes you’ve made or even, like, exams you could have done better on or something?” He shakes his head. “Seriously, nothing?”
“Have you heard of the butterfly effect?”
“I am familiar with butterflies, yes.” There are currently one hundred of them living in my abdomen and they all come to life when you’re near me. However, I think he’s probably talking about the movie. “What effect do they have on my time machine?”
“Not butterflies, the butterfly effect. If I change one thing in my past, it’d cause a ripple effect, and I wouldn’t chance not meeting you.”
Make that two hundred butterflies, all flapping at once.
My throat feels dry, but I force out the words anyway. “You know you don’t have to sweet talk me to get into my pants, right? You’ve already done that bit.”
“I’m not sweet talking you, but I’m never going to get bored of seeing your cheeks flush pink.”
It’s an overwhelming feeling, watching Russ step into the guy he clearly is deep down when you ward off the insecurities. I feel so fucking lucky that I’m the one watching.
My kiss catches him off guard, but he settles into it quickly, and I hope to God that nobody steps on a butterfly.
Chapter Twenty-FourRUSS
AURORA HANDS ME MY SECONDcoffee of the day as we watch Xander and Emilia argue.
Several weeks ago, the wordstalentandshowwere mentioned in the same sentence in what I hoped was a joke. Then Aurora told me how important it is to her—emotional blackmail some would say—and because I can’t help but do whatever she wants because I’m obsessed, I’m now waiting to be taught to dance.
I knew that if I let her down after missing the first practice she would never learn to trust me, so I’ve been in our designated rehearsal spot before everyone, ready to go.
