Page 44 of Eye of the Hurricane (Weathering Doves Harbor #2)

Katherine

Luna, Audra, Ravyn, and I all ride in one car and the boys ride in another to Ares’ art show. It’s so fun having a group of friends who do things like this together. I never really had a sense of community until Ares’ friends took me in without a question.

Today is the Charleston Southern Art Show which is—as I’ve been informed a hundred times by a very excited Ares—the third biggest art show in the United States.

Audra and Ravyn seem especially giddy for me to be attending. Maybe because Ares has never had a girlfriend in the crowd at these types of things… Am I even his girlfriend? I guess we haven’t put a label on it.

We are exclusive though… I think? I guess we haven’t talked about that either. Oh God. What if he’s seeing other people?

The thought of him taking some other woman to bed and doing to her what he does to me makes me nauseous. An unfamiliar feeling settles in my chest that feels a lot like jealousy. But like… way worse. Closer to te rritorial.

“I’ve hardly seen any of his work, I’m really excited for this,” I announce to the car. Audra and Ravyn share a look and laugh.

“I think you’ll love it,” Ravyn says.

“I’ve never seen any of his work but Kat says it’s great. I thought maybe she was just dickmatized until I found out he was going to be in this art show,” Luna says. Ravyn and Audra burst out laughing.

“Dickmatized? That’s great! I’m stealing that,” Audra says through laughter.

“You’re laughing a lot for someone who was lying to her best friends for the dick,” Ravyn says, howling a laugh. Audra’s laughter tapers off for a brief second before she bursts out laughing harder than before.

“What can I say? It’s good dick,” she blushes slightly at her own statement.

“Must run in the family,” I joke. Although I’m not sure how much of a joke it is. Their heads snap in my direction before the entire car comes to one consensus.

“Yuck!” they all exclaim.

“Oh, I see, no one wants me to have good sex.”

“Of course we want you to get your lights fucked out. We just don’t want to hear about it,” Ravyn counters and they all laugh harder.

“We’re kidding by the way. You can tell us anything. We’re not exactly the most private group of people,” Audra explains.

“I’ve noticed.”

“She was a virgin before she met Ares!” Luna blurts.

“That was unnecessary,” I scold, pointing at her.

“No way. Were you waiting for marriage?” Audra asks.

“Oh, no. I was just really focused on career stuff for so long that I didn’t really have a desire to try it. ”

“Until you met Ares?”

“Yeah, until I met Ares.”

Finally, we pull into the packed parking lot of the art show. We all put on our best shows of being quiet and professional. It comes pretty natural to me, this is the kind of environment I grew up in.

Everyone is talking no louder than a whisper. Every person is dressed to the nines. There’s a comforting familiarity of being in a room where I’m not overdressed.

I fit in more here than I do in any of my usual spaces. This feels like home, but not in a way that feels like four walls I want to crawl to at the end of a bad day. In the way that this feels like the place I’m running from.

If it weren’t for the importance to Ares, I might turn on my heels and walk right back out the doors. It is important to him though, so I scan the building for his face.

It takes quite a bit of walking around until I find him. And when I do, I’m so proud that tears prick my eyes. I can’t get to him because his booth is so crowded. I can’t even see the art from where I’m standing.

Too many people are interested in him and his art. What a great problem to have.

So I stand with my arm interlocked with Luna’s and wait patiently for my turn to see him. The man of the hour it seems.

By the time I get up close enough to see him, nearly every piece has a sold sticker next to it. But that isn’t the thing that catches my attention most.

What catches my attention most is that his section is a flood of warmth, sunshine, and me. Everything is so warm and inviting but at the center of it all, is me. Nearly every piece includes me and the ones that don’t, are callbacks to days we spent together.

My jaw hangs open and when I peek over to see Luna, hers might as well be on the floor.

“This is the most romantic thing I’ve ever seen, did you know?” she whispers into my ear.

“I had no idea,” I tell her honestly.

“You go ahead, I’ll hang back. Have your moment.” Luckily I have a little time to let it soak in before I have to find words to say to him. Slowly but surely I inch toward him and when I’m finally in front of him, I’m speechless.

“This is me,” I say, pointing to the painting he did of me when we were camping. He’s gone back through and added detail now though. It’s beautiful. I look beautiful, it casts me in a light I’ve never been able to see myself in.

“It is,” he confirms with a nod. I look around.

“These candles…” I trail off.

“Are the ones from the hurricane,” he finishes my sentence for me, confirming what I thought.

My eyes fall to another piece, this one a photo. It’s me, sleeping in a surprisingly peaceful and serene way. The light beams cast golden light on me and he’s captured it perfectly. It feels like I’m standing there, looking at myself in person.

“Was this the first time you slept over?” I ask. He nods.

The painting beside it is what appears to be me lying in the sand with a golden sunset behind me. The waves are painted in shimmering gold. Is this how he sees me?

“Everything is so golden and warm. It’s like sunshine lathered on a canvas.”

“They’re all you. Even the ones that aren’t portraits of you.

This is what I see when I look at you, Katherine.

Basking in your light has been the time of my life.

The kind of adventure you have to make art about.

” His admission stuns me for a moment. All I can do is stare at him with tears in my eyes.

It’s the most beautiful and kind thing anyone has ever said to me. If you asked me what love was, I would tell you what he just said to me.

I always felt like there was some big secret I was on the outside of when my friends were in relationships growing up. Especially as we got older and they got more serious. There always seemed to be something more to it, something that no one talked about. Something unspoken but understood.

I understand it now. I know now that it’s unspoken because you can’t speak to it. There aren’t words that encapsulate this feeling in my chest.

“I love you,” I gush.

“I never get tired of you saying that to me.”

“I never get tired of saying it.”

When everything is said and done, he wraps my hand in his, walks me out to his car, and takes me home. Every night with him feels like a dream. Or like I’m starring in some coming-of-age film where the main characters are falling hopelessly in love every second they spend together.

I don’t know if I really knew who I was before Ares. Not in a way that a man has defined me as a woman. But in a way that he introduced me to a new way of living that I never experienced until now.

Until a couple of months ago I didn’t know who I was outside of my plan. All I knew about myself was how bad I wanted my goals and how bad I wanted out from under my parents.

I have both of those things now. Not only that but I know myself. Or at least I’m well on my way to getting to know myself.

I know now that I like having fun outside of work. I love camping. Late-night drives for food are peaceful in a cinematic way. I know that I like being someone’s girlfriend and that I like having a boyfriend.

There are few things that feel as right as riding passenger with my hand tucked into his.

When we walk into the door the sound of a little chime grows closer until there’s finally a fuzzy black ball in front of us. Ares reaches down and scoops her off of the floor, rubbing noses with her.

“You know you can’t steal my cat, right?” I joke. He stuffs her under his arm where I can just barely see her.

“What cat?” he asks, turning his body away from me. I frown, reaching for her.

“My sweet baby Bellatrix.”

“She likes to be called Bells, she told me,” he says handing her to me.

“Oh, she told you? You speak cat now?”

“I’m fluent in pussy talk,” he says, flashing me a megawatt smile.

“Corny, two out of ten,” I say with a dramatic groan.

“I’ll take my win of getting a two rather than a zero.” He shrugs and I laugh. I reach down and set Bellatrix back on the ground.

Ares beats me to the kitchen and is immediately pulling food from the cupboards. Bread, cheese, bacon, yep he’s making bacon grilled cheese .

“Do you have any idea how hungry I am after tonight?” He asks pulling out the mayonnaise.

“I’m starting to get an idea from the amount of bread and cheese you’re getting out,” I say with a laugh. I take a better look at the ingredients and scrunch up my nose in disgust. “Mayonnaise on grilled cheese?”

“You’ll see, you’ll love it. It’s in place of butter, it makes it crispy and salty… and amazing.”

“I guess I’ll trust you but I want it noted that I’m suspicious.” He mimes pulling out a pad of paper and writing the note down.

I pop myself up on the part of the counter he isn’t using. He takes a break from making an assembly line of grilled cheese ingredients to come stand between my legs.

He brushes the hair out of my face and kisses my lips gently. I cross my ankles behind his back causing the soles of my heels to clack together. His large hands run up my thighs and under my dress leaving goosebumps in their wake.

He dips his head to my neck, kissing a line from my ear to my collarbone. I let out a satisfied sigh.

“Shouldn’t you be cooking?” I giggle. He drops his head to my shoulder.

“You’re addicting,” he says, dragging himself away from me and back to the stove. He flips over a piece of bread that is entirely black on the underside.

“Wow, baby, I’m really glad I trusted you on these grilled cheeses,” I taunt, laughing. He gives me a sheepish smile, taking a bite to prove it’s edible.

“Mmm, I think I like that,” he hums.

“The charred grilled cheese?”

“No. You calling me baby.” His smile is soft and genuine.

“I didn’t really think about it. It just felt natural,” I admit .

He finishes the grilled cheese he has in the skillet and this time he doesn’t let his attention wander. And when he’s done with it, it’s perfectly golden unlike the first one.

He cuts the sandwich in half and brings one of the halves over to me. He holds it up for me to take a bite and I do.

Well, fuck. I hate to be wrong but damn. This is the best grilled cheese I’ve ever had. He knows it too when there’s a moan low in my throat.

“You love it, don’t you? And you don’t want to hear I told you so,” he taunts.

“Yeah, yeah. You told me so, it’s amazing. Now give me another bite, baby.” I use his own admission to liking it against him. I chew on my lip, waiting for a reaction from him.

“Keep calling me baby and you’ll get more than a bite of food,” he says lowly.

“Is that a promise?” I raise my eyebrow at him.

“Yeah, honey, it’s a promise.” He cuts a second grilled cheese in half to share with me. I take one half and he has the other.

“Are you going to spend the night with me?” I ask, hopping off of the counter.

“I’ve told you before. I’ll be here anytime you want me here.” He puts the dishes into the sink and follows me out to the living room. He takes a seat on the couch and instead of taking the seat next to him, I curl up in his lap.

“I want you to stay with me. I like going to sleep with you and waking up with you.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. You make me feel safe. My whole life I’ve felt like I had to have control at every turn but when I’m with you I feel like I can rest,” I tell him. His hand cradles my head and pulls it tight to his chest.

“You know, two people who have feelings for each other and spend most nights together usually have a name for it.” I know what he’s getting at but I play along with his bit of being vague.

“Really? I wonder if they have names they even call each other.”

“You know, rumor has it they do.”

“I’m inexperienced but I still have standards, Ares. If you want me to be your girlfriend you’re going to have to ask me,” I tell him, tapping the tip of his nose with my pointer finger. His smile grows.

“Katherine, will you be my girlfriend?” I pretend to think hard about it, tapping a finger to my chin and looking off into space. “Very funny, very mean.”

“Of course, I’ll be your girlfriend. I’m already your girlfriend if we’re honest with ourselves. I think I have been since I stumbled into your bedroom and asked you to sleep with me.”