Blue (The Spectrum Series: #3)

Chapter Twenty-Six

I wake up to Blue carrying me in his arms. I am wearing one of his black shirts with my pile of dirty clothes on my stomach. I lift my head from its comfortable position on his bare warm chest to blink up at him. He doesn't catch my curious and hazy gaze, focusing on walking to wherever it is he's taking me. I am not sure what's happening or why he looks so guilty, too guilty. And sad. I want to wake myself up fully and hug him until he shows me his dimpled smile I love so much. But I don't have any energy and find my eyes fluttering closed.

I drift back to sleep for a few minutes, and when I crack open my heavy eyes again, I'm laying in my bed. Blue finishes tucking my comforter up to my neck and brushes my hair off my forehead. His brilliant brown eyes scan my face. I wonder if he knows I'm awake, barely so, but I am. I think. If this is a dream, then what a pleasure to dream of his face. He's the most beautiful man I've encountered. I'm so lost in admiring his striking features, that I almost don't hear him speaking, but I have been staring at his moving pink lips.

My eyes are fluttering closed, sleep threatening to pull me back under when he bends down and presses his lips to my forehead, his cold rings making contact with my skin as his thumb runs over my cheeks. "You deserve better, ballerina. So much better." Before I can protest and pull him into my arms to reassure him of his statement, I, once again, drift off to sleep and dream of dimpled smiles and dazzling silver rings.

* * *

I wake up to Riley complaining about my blaring alarm for my daily morning run. I sit up and blindly reach for my alarm clock, silencing my grumpy roommate when I hit the snooze button. I lay back down and let my eyes close for a few minutes. I try to think of what occurred last night. I remember working up the courage to touch Blue and falling asleep in his arms. Then, I woke up in the middle of the night or morning to him carrying me back to my room and tucking me in. The unsettling image of him looking down at me with shiny eyes and red cheeks makes me squirm. What could he have been upset about? Did I actually do something wrong when I did what I did? He praised me, not berated. Or did he feel guilty for letting me fall just a little further down the rabbit hole when he knows he wants nothing to do with me?

All the possibilities give me stomachaches, so I stop thinking and sleep for a few more minutes before rolling out of bed and pulling on my workout clothes. I barely have the energy to tie my sneakers, but the image of my plate of food I had at Blue's father's house yesterday gives me just enough to leave the building. The frigid November wind seeps through my winter coat and bites at the back of my neck and hands. An hour and a half later I'm relieved to take an extensive hot shower.

Riley's just waking up when I enter the room. "Good morning," she grumbles, combing her stubby fingers through her braids.

"Good morning," I reply, smiling. "What time did you come in last night?" It must have been after Blue carried me here. He would have taken me back if he'd saw her in her bed, desperate to keep me his dirty little secret. My mouth tastes bitter at the thought.

"Around 3," she answers.

I smirk as I step through white underwear. "Connor kept you up all night?" I tease and watch her look at her hands in her lap, blushing. She's with him in his room more than she is here. It's cute how much they can't get enough of each other.

"Maybe," she says flippantly.

After snapping on a plain black bra, I walk over to the closet and pull out my pre-chosen clothes for today: a pastel-pink cashmere sweater with a white button down that has lace on the collar, and dark blue-jeans.

"Aren't you going to get dressed?" I ask Riley, slightly teasing her as I pull on my jeans after buttoning my shirt. I can hear signs of life outside the wooden door a few feet away, but she's yet to get out of bed. I'd call her the laziest person I know, but she's nothing compared to my dad. It'd be easier waking up a hibernating bear than getting him up in the mornings.