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I smile and take his phone. Tapping on the camera app, I switch it to the front camera and hold it high, focusing it on our face. “Smile, big guy.”

Instead of smiling, Connor turns his head and presses a kiss to my temple. I smile up at the camera and snap the photo. I turn my head and kiss him, blindly taking another photo before pulling back and handing him his phone.

“Send the first one to your mom.”

His brows shoot up. “Babe, you need to understand. My mom is obsessed with?—”

I cover his mouth with my fingers. “Send it. It’ll make her happy. If we break up, she can burn it in anger.”

Connor nips at my fingertips. “We’re not breaking up.” He sends the first photo to his mom and sets the second as hiswallpaper. Almost immediately, his phone pings with multiple messages. He glances at the screen, smiling at the messages from his mom. “And so it begins…”

“I’m glad she likes the photo,Conbear,” I quip.

Connor gives me a look.

“Oh, don’t like that nickname?” I laugh and curl closer against his side.

“Only my mom calls me that.”

“You’re such a momma’s boy.”

34

Summer

The days of our restriction pass quickly, and I fill the time with catching up on schoolwork and getting a head start on other coursework. Most of my evenings are spent with Connor, and it’s becoming easier to relax into him. I enjoy my time with him, and on the plus side, he’s not a bad lay. Falling into Connor is easier than falling asleep. His warmth lures me in, making me believe that maybe I could be the right person. A person good enough to be a fit match for an angel. Maybe I could exist in a perfect world of light, family, comfort, and ease.

“You’re really that nervous?” Alice asks, pulling me from my thoughts. She lounges on my bed, sprawled out and scrolling through her phone.

I tug at the hem of my rust-colored corduroy mini-skirt and then pick a piece of lint off my cream cashmere sweater. I tip my head, assessing the brown knee-high boots and the black tights covering the rest of my legs.

“Does this look okay?”

“Maybe you should do your hair half up, half down,” Alice suggests.

I gather the hair on either side of my face and pull it back, both of us studying my reflection.

“Nah, it looked better down.” Alice narrows her eyes, tilting her head. “Have you ever considered bangs?”

I exhale heavily and unclip my hair, running my fingers through my long locks.

“Sum, it’s going to be fine.”

I tug at the sweater. “I’ve just never done this before.”

Alice comes up behind me and wraps her arms around me. With my heels and her bare feet, I’m significantly taller than her. “You’re going to do great,” she reassures me again.

“We’re not even officially boyfriend and girlfriend yet. Should I even be meeting them?” It is simply poor timing that Avalon’s Parent Weekend lands on this weekend. While I have been warming to the idea, a prickly feeling still runs down my spine when I consider making things more official. My commitment issues are so deep-seated that I can’t even find the true root of them anymore.

Alice snorts. “You’re the only one who thinks you’re not a couple.”

I lean into the mirror, touching up my makeup. “What if they don’t like me, Al?”

Alice peers around my arm, meeting my eyes in the mirror. Smiling savagely, she flashes those lethal fangs of hers. “Then I’ll kill them.”

The nerves tear at my stomach, ripping through me. “I’m not good enough for him.” The words slip out. My walls don’t matter with Alice. The little vampire has taken up residence and lives inside them with me.

She snaps her teeth. “You are perfect, the best of the best, and angel or not, he’s fucking lucky to have you.”