Des'Tai: Book Two

125: Tyron

Who the fuck was this Brad? Brady? Brat? Whatever the hell his name was. Faye might not have been able to see through his bullshit flirting, but I did.

'I can picture us together.' Give me a break. My Faye goes to Earth for five days and gets chatted up by some punk that didn't even look at her when they were in school. I mean, I didn't know whether to be angrier that he'd ignored her, or that he thought he could jump on her now, years later?

Faye was...well...stunning. Even in the pictures I'd seen on her bedroom wall during our dream, back when she'd been a teenager, she'd been beautiful then too.

"...I'd been hanging out with a guy who wouldn't have given me the time of day in high school but suddenly saw me that night."

He saw her because she wasn't that shy wallflower anymore. The person she was today was miles away from the one she'd been when I'd first met her. Confident, outspoken; now she had people that loved her and cared about where she was or what she was doing and it showed.

Fucking Brad.

And once again, Aja had been thrown at me. It wasn't like I'd ever had a crush on her, so how could I control how another person felt? I'd even tried to tell Aja to stop and that didn't work. Why couldn't she have done the same as Juno and hightailed it in the night?

I grumbled to myself and looked down at the packet she'd tossed at me. It was a set of darts, each of them engraved with 'Thorn'. I'd never mentioned to Faye about my love for the game, but I played with Knox and Nero nearly every Tuesday and Saturday evening; and I always had to borrow Knox's set when it was my turn. I'd kept meaning to buy my own, but with one thing or another, it was one of those things that I kept forgetting to do.

Now, I didn't have to.

I ran my fingers through my hair. Arguing with Faye was the last thing I'd wanted to do, especially tonight – I hadn't seen her in six days for fuck sake! I'd missed her like crazy and now we were back biting at each other about something stupid. And looking down at my gift made me suddenly realise how stupid it really was.

Reaching for my bag, I pulled the leather bound books from one side and the box of salts from the other. Luckily I'd gone back for the salts the day before we'd left. I placed the darts onto the side table beside the couch and stood there debating my next move.

One thing Faye had been right about was how bloody tired I was. After our loving session on the sofa, exhaustion had quickly caught up to me. If I sat down somewhere now, I was pretty sure I'd fall asleep on the spot.

I sighed and headed down the hall and towards our bedroom. There was only one way I was falling asleep peacefully tonight.

Peering around the side of the door, I could just about make out Faye's form beneath the covers, her back facing my side of the bed. I pushed the door open silently, then closed it behind me, all the while keeping my gaze locked onto the bed.

She looked like she was sleeping, but I knew that she wasn't. Her angry thoughts were spinning around her head, barging into my own. I walked around to her side, the same way she was facing and abruptly Faye turned the other way, her eyes shut tight.

I made sure to keep my mind clear, to not think about what I was doing as I did it. Quietly, I placed the bound books onto her bedside table, then the string tied box beside them and climbed into bed. At first I thought she was going to turn away from me again, but she didn't, instead she kept half her face buried into her pillow, her hand resting in the space between us.

As soon as my head touched my pillow, I felt my eyelids grow heavy. Goddess, I had missed this comfortable bed and blankets that didn't make me want to itch my skin off. I turned, positioning my body to mirror her own, my fingers a hairsbreadth away from hers.

"Katinar...?" I whispered. When she didn't open her eyes or move at all, I added, "I'm sorry."

The link shimmered, so I knew she'd heard me. "You looked so content in those pictures and the way you were gazing up at him...no man wants to see his Mate looking at someone else that way. You were a whole world away, looking happier than any photos you have with me."

Was I jealous? Maybe a little bit. A tiny bit. But I wasn't about to tell Faye that.

Her lashes fluttered open but she didn't look at me, instead keeping them downcast to the empty space between us.

"Bea wasn't interested in me, even without the Mating mark. In fact, I think she was more interested in Rune – she took twice as long to do his hair than she did mine – but she was too proper to act on it. Plus, her little sister was with us the whole time." I slid my hand across the sheets and brushed the tip of my fingers across her palm. "I only have eyes for you, Faye."

She looked at me then; her bright blue eyes clear even in the darkness. "You're reading way too much into a photo, Ty. Someone could take a picture of me laughing at Rune and I'd look the same; it's all about timing." Her fingers closed gently around mine, her skin warm against my hand. "Next time we all go out together, I'm going to ask Senna to take a photo of us and you can see for yourself how different it'll look. How different I'll look."

At her touch, I scooted closer to her, moving to the edge of my pillow. I could detect the faintest smell of her against it, leaving me to wonder if she'd slept on my side last night. I sighed, feeling stupider by the second.

I hadn't expected to see that picture on her phone and in my delirious, exhausted state, I may have overreacted just a smidge. Spreading my fingers across her palm, I linked them between hers, the vines of our tattoos joining.

"Knox will be happy that I have my own darts now." I smiled lazily.

Faye scooted closer to me, moving more towards the centre of the bed now. "Do you like them?"

"I love them. How did you know? It's not like I ever talk about playing."

"You don't have to talk to me about something for me to know you like it, Ty. I pay attention to what you do, a lot more than you realise."

Closing the small space between our faces, I brushed the tip of my nose against hers, and then closed my eyes as I began to lose my fight against the increasingly dominant pull of sleep. "I meant what I said, y'know? That night we met in your old room, in the dream."

"You said a lot of stuff that night."

"That guy...Brady, Brat..."

"Brandt." Faye offered and I could hear the slight laugh in her voice, making my lazy smile return.

"You said he wouldn't have given you the time of day in school and I think that's fucking crazy. But I would have. I would have given you a lot of time and a lot of day." I peeked at her through one eye.

"If you'd been there, then I wouldn't have had a crush on Brandt in the first place." Her breath blew out against my lips a moment before her forehead rested against mine.

I closed my eye again and grinned, mostly to myself. "Me instead?" I asked, hoping she'd understand what I meant.

Faye chuckled. "You instead."

Happy with her answer, I let myself give in to the tendrils of slumber clawing at me and begun to slip into the darkness, when I heard her voice once more. "Baby?"

"Mhmm?"

Her voice was barely above a whisper as she spoke. "You're the sun to my moon and stars, Ty...without you, I don't glow. No one else compares to you, not now, not ever."

I used what energy I had left to move my arm around her waist, tucking her to me, her body fitting against mine like a puzzle piece. "Without my moon and stars, there would only be darkness."