The Player's Twins (Book Two of The Great Age Plague series)

Chapter Eleven

"Adira, you need to leave the house. Come on, it will be fine," said Keon, holding open my lavender peacoat as I stood unsure in the passageway near the door. Keon smiled in the way someone would when trying to encourage a little child to let go of their favorite stuffed toy. In this case, I needed to let go of Josh, at least for a few hours; but trust me, I was a hell of a lot more stubborn than a child.

"I don't know about this. I just don't feel comfortable leaving Josh alone," I said, my hands wandering to my pregnant belly. Like ghosts, my hands seemed to go there more and more of their own accord as of late, rubbing my belly gently as if trying to calm my babies when I was anything but. Keon's eyes zeroed in on my hands, causing him to frown, his lip ring dipping noticeably. Gently, he draped the coat over his arm, then approached me shyly.

"Look, I understand you want to be here for him. I get that," said Keon carefully, rubbing the back of his neck "But we haven't been on a real date in ages. I want to take you out. Just for a few hours... Cally assured me she would keep an eye on him and you know I've already scoured the house for more ice. Please Adira."

Unfortunately, I didn't know what to say. I trapped in between two fires, each threatening to burn me up if I didn't attend to them. One was my burning desire to spend the night with Keon, just getting to know this guy who had stolen my heart better. I mean, for christ's sake, I was in a polyamourous relationship, something I never would have thought I would do, simply because he made me feel so many new things. Yet, here I was, still barely knowing anything about him after three months of living together. The other fire that licked at my feet, metaphorically speaking, was my passionate worry for Josh. Suddenly, I was beginning to question my own sanity. How could one worry about another person so much? Even when my mother was alive during the first round of the plague, I still didn't worry about her as much as Josh. I always assumed that was because she was my mother, she was suppose to worry about me, but my worry for Josh just seemed to get worse and worse. Was that what being in love was suppose to be like?

"Please," begged Keon. Suddenly, my reserve seemed to break like a dam. I needed to spend the night with Keon. The poor guy worked day in and out to support me, and I wasn't even pregnant with his children. Sighing, I reached out my hand, and Keon took it with a wide grin on his face. Wrapping my coat over my shoulders, he kissed me gently on the lips.

I savored the kiss, loving how innocently he touched me. Josh always kissed me with firey passion, like this was the last kiss he would ever have. Keon? He kissed me like he was his first kiss, not his last. It was that nervous energy springing into the kiss, along with an innocent wonder that seemed to fill me up with warm tea from head to toe. It was delicious.

Leading me out into the cold, Keon led me to Josh's dad's car, opening the door for me before I slid into the passenger seat. Once in the car, he wasted no time turning on the heat. While he waited for the car to warm up, he turned to me, his breathe creating little ice clouds between us.

"So, where should I take you today angel? We have quite a few options. I was thinking something simple. Let's go up to the hiking trails and watch the sunset. After that we can eat at the lodge. Sound good?" asked Keon. I nodded, my teeth chattering with the cold. Keon, noticing my blue lipped response, giggled and kissed me again. Suddenly, I didn't feel so cold.

***

Wow. Just wow. For a dreary day in Feburary, the sunset sure was beautiful. Silently, Keon led me up a steep hill, following a marked trail through pines. Everything, bar the pines, was barren. Strangely enough, signs warning of poison ivy stood out yellow against the grey-brown backdrop, little strangers who were no longer needed, like the last one to leave a party.