Page 67 of Marked By Shadows
“I do though,” Alex said, almost stumbling over his thoughts as much as his words. “Love you, I mean. Am crazy about you. Your brain, the endless swirls of how your mind works, always creating, the well of knowledge, and well… I’m pretty fond of your face too. But I love you for being you.”
I smiled at him and accepted another light kiss. “Then I think we’re on the right path, yeah?”
“Yes,” he breathed.
“I’d do anything for you,” I admitted. “So don’t be stupid. Stay close to me.”
“Plan on it,” Alex said. And since the food arrived, it saved us from having to hear too much of MaryAnn and Chad gushing over how adorable we were.
Chapter 20
There was something different about having uttered the words. Not a bad something. More a solidifying of the bond between us. An agreement that we were on the same page. I worried that I’d become comfortable with Alex too fast, needing his calm assurance in my space to function, but he seemed as focused on me as I was on him. We still had a lot to learn about each other, but we had time for that. So long as the paranormal kept out of our business.
After our meal and returning MaryAnn to the convention, Chad took us back to the B&B and even helped us load everything into our cabin, though the new machine had to go in the SUV. Alex insisted on covering it with fabric so no one would try to steal it. I didn’t point out that if someone wanted something to steal, a giant box covered in fabric wasn’t going to deter them.
But getting to curl up with him for an afternoon nap? That was priceless. I slept hard wrapped in Alex’s arm and one of our quilts from home. He roused me slowly with kisses, though mostly to my face.
“Lower,” I grumbled. “Don’t you owe me an ass kissing? Or licking?”
“Yes, but we’ve been invited to a special event and there’s not enough time. So maybe later?” Alex sounded hopeful. “I was trying to let you sleep but it’s almost five thirty. We’ll have dinner soon.”
“I’m not hungry and dinner isn’t until seven.”
“Dinner is early tonight. And we both need to eat. I need more protein and some bananas. Man, I’ve never wanted bananas so much in my life as I have in the past two weeks.”
I opened an eye to stare up at him. “Do we have any left in the kitchen?” I’d gotten him a sizable supply from the grocery store we’d stopped at before arriving.
He flushed. “I ate them all. Dunno why I’m still craving them so bad.”
“Potassium,” I said absently. “I think I packed some electrolyte water packets somewhere. Your brother gave them to me before we left.” My brain rolled slowly through all the events of the last few days and the morning. I sat up and stared at him, able to see most of the tiny house space from my position in the loft. The industrial machine I’d brought sat on the small table, a scrap of quilt sandwich in it, filled with designs. “Did you nap?”
“A little,” Alex said. “About forty minutes or so. I didn’t want to wake you. Was hoping you’d wake up on your own since you didn’t sleep well last night.”
“I’ve heard a concussion will do that to you,” I remarked without feeling. In reality, Alex had to wake me every two hours last night to check on my head. Each time I’d fallen back to sleep quickly, but it still made for a rough night. My sleep schedule was going to be really off by the time we got home. “Wait, invited to what?”
He held up an envelope, scrawled with our names in fancy text. “Iron Cosplay?” He asked, like saying the words would bring clarity. It did for me.
“Wow. It’s been years. Three maybe four since we did one as a group?” I took the envelope from him and opened it to read Freya’s delicate writing scrawled as a fierce challenge. “I wonder if everyone is going?”
“Is it anything like the Iron Chef?” Alex wanted to know. He was practically thrumming with excitement.
“You’re a super nerd, you know that, right?” I asked him. “Yes, it’s a race to create a costume with limited and shared supplies in a certain time frame. The invite says there will be prizes awarded.”
“You love me anyway, you already said, nerd or otherwise,” Alex said.
“I do.” I stared at him. “Odd, right?”
“’Cause you’re not a big old nerd in disguise yourself?” He flopped over on the mattress next to me. “Are we going? Please? Can we be super nerdy and Iron Cosplay or whatever it is?”
“Yes, we can go. There will be a handful of these type of events at the convention too,” I pointed out. We’d already browsed the brochure of event scheduling and Alex had highlighted things he thought sounded cool. I was less interested in the process of craft and more attuned to the supply. Alex, new to the entire thing, wanted it all. So we planned to make as much time for what we could.
“But those are all with strangers. At least we sort of know these people.”
“Small groups are less intimidating. It’s how I got my start in the group at all. Was part of the online group, networking with people while doing the photography. Before I met Tim. Went to a cosplay convention in L.A. The group invited a handful of us to meet up. We ate dinner, hung out, and did an Iron Cosplay the night before the con started so we all had something new for each day. It was a mess, and everything fell apart as we wore it, but it was a thing. It’s how I met Freya, and Chad and MaryAnn. I think the girls and Jonah showed up at the next event a few months later. We did the Iron Cosplay thing each time.”
“Didn’t sound like it was on the agenda here. Did they stop doing it?” Alex asked.
“Yes. I’m not sure why. I wasn’t able to make it to every event. At that point I was traveling across the world. So sometimes it didn’t happen. When I moved to the States and in with Tim, I had less time and money to do the conventions, though would go to one or two a year. I think the last one I remember having an Iron Cosplay at was right before I went missing.”