Page 92 of Make Me Pretty

I drop my head to my shoulder, arms crossed over my chest as I peek at him through bleary eyes.

“You take offense to nothing. Trust me, I’ve tried.”

He shoots me a smirk before pressing play and dropping the remote to the coffee table. With a sigh, he drops back, tugging the quilt over his exposed legs as he settles in. His eyelids are heavy, dark, spidery eyelashes fluttering his cheeks as the screen’s light flashes over his pale face.

I hear the voices emitting from the T.V., but they’re merely a faded background noise as I watch Abel. The crinkles near his eyes, the way his stained lips pucker. Listen to his highest, breathiest chuckles and muted snorts.

“You’re not worthless,” I mumble as my eyelids sink shut, body tingling as sleep burs into me. “Not to me.”

A hitch of breath that pierces through my brain. “Peris…” My name is whispered, and it aches too much.

I regret ever opening my mouth, even as I lean closer to his uncomfortable warmth. “Just forget it.” I backpedal, taking the easy way out.

Except it’s not easy.

None of this is.

“I wish I could.”

CHAPTER 27

ABEL

I wake with a start,the edges of a hazy dream still lingering as I blink up at the white ceiling. It’s disorienting, falling from something so real to diving into another thatis.

A heavy weight is crushing my left side, making it hard to breathe. At first, I think it must be the dream. Or maybe I’m back in a place I was always supposed to be, but then, my head turns to find Peris lying beside me, and it all comes back.

“You’re not worthless.”

We’ve migrated into the corner of the sectional sofa with an old quilt tangled between us. Peris’s head is heavy atop my torso, and his arms are crossed over his chest. It makes him look smaller than he really is. More… vulnerable.

My eyes burn, lips curved into a smile as I watch him sleep. Noting the frown that never really leaves. The crease between his brows that will surely become a wrinkle within the next couple of years.

His endless, crushing weight that’s as paralyzing as it is liberating.Haunting words that are nothing but tired echoes.

“Hey, morning,” a voice whispers softly from above. I jerk back, a squawk ripping from my throat as my head slams into the back of the sofa. My arms shoot upward to cover my faceas I choke on the beat of my heart down somewhere in my gut, twining with the urge to throw up.

“Woah, woah, hey.Hey.” Softer—if that’s even possible. But I barely hear the words. Blood’s rushing too fast in my ears, limbs trembling. Fuck.Fuck.

It’s Elise.

It’s okay.

Fingers graze my arms with a featherlight touch, but I still twitch, trying my hardest to keep still.

“Abel, it’s just me. Elise,” she clarifies. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

Her words are confusing, catching somewhere between the panic clawing at my insides and the rush of a truth that doesn’t make sense. Peris’s weight pinning me down is welcome, grounding me to the moment. Because it’s him, and I’m here.I’m safe.

I’m fucking safe.

The release chokes me, a sob bubbling up my throat before I can stop it, and my arms move, fingers finding Peris’s thick hair purely on instinct. It’s still grimy and textured from the game last night, but it’s soft, and it’s his.

My chest deflates, lips parting on a breath of relief. Fuck, it doesn’t make sense, but I canfeel it.How wrong I was—howrightthis is.

“Abel.”

My eyes fly open, hands stilling with my nails just grazing Peris’s scalp—and he chooses the fucking moment I look his mother in the eyes to hum contentedly and roll into me even more.