Arrow to the Heart: A Cupid Romance

Chapter 35

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"Back already?" Bree asks as she opens the door.

"I said I would... be..." I trail off as my eyes scan down her body. After I went back to my place to call Eli, she clearly changed into this little pink dress covered in a pattern of tiny cherries. "What is this?"

I step toward her and give the bottom of her skirt a little tug.

"It's a nightgown."

"Riiighht..." I rest a hand on her hip. My eyes follow the tiny lace straps down to the low V of the neckline.

If this is really just supposed to be slept in, then it was designed by the devil.

"What did Eli have to say?"

"Eli?" I trace my fingertips down her ribcage.

"Yeah. You said my Cupid got fired, remember? You went back to your place to go call Eli?"

"Oh yeah. Right." I give my head a quick shake, then step inside fully and close the door behind me.

Eli was pretty pissed at me when he answered the call—apparently he had been texting and calling me all evening.

"Well, Eli was watching the tracker we put on Alvarez's car and his behavior wasn't following his usual patterns, so he did some digging." I lean back against the kitchen counter. "And lucky for us, Alvarez has a big mouth. Turns out that when Eli lifted that ring from his pocket, we stirred up some major shit. Dozens of new prophecies are coming up changed."

"Because you have the ring?" she asks.

"And presumably because The Fates don't."

"So he got fired because he lost it?"

"Most likely. Sounds like he's having a shit fit about it, complaining to anyone who'll listen."

"Does the ring have anything to do with me?"

"I don't think so, but we still don't know what the Fates want with you. Honestly, I don't think they know either. But it's probably not a bad idea to keep an eye on you in the meantime."

"Is that what the bag is for?" she asks, gesturing to the duffel bag slung over my shoulder.

"Yeah, if it's alright with you."

"Sure!" She nods and heads for the bedroom. My eyes fall to the far-too-high hemline of her nightgown as I follow her. "This'll be fun! If we forget the whole Fates conspiracy nonsense, it's really just a sleepover."

Only Bree would see it that way.

"A sleepover? Really?" I ask, cocking a brow.

"Why not? I mean, we don't have to do each other's hair or anything, but we could watch a movie or something."

I set my overnight bag down on the floor by the foot of her bed.

"Is that what girls do at sleepovers?" I ask.

She sits on the edge of the bed, her feet dangling above the floor.

"Yep. And talk about boys. And play truth or dare. And hold the occasional seance. Why? What do guys do at sleepovers?"

"I wouldn't know." I shrug. "Never had one."

"Really?" She cocks her head.

"I was never real big on sleeping in front of other people." I kick off my shoes and sit beside her on the bed. "Falling asleep in a room full of douchebag preteen boys is a recipe for trouble."