Page 46 of Severed Heart

“No game tonight,” she states, her temperament hard to gauge with her delivery as I allow my eyes to sweep the perfection of her profile. Her features alone are utterly fucking surreal, having no less effect on me than they did yesterday or the day before.

No chance in hell, Jennings.

These last weeks have been a mix of heaven and hell. In giving me the education I practically begged her for, I’ve become completely cognizant of just how much of her beauty I was formerly blind to. Every day, I resign and align myself to the fact that my attraction for her is not only dangerous but utterly idiotic. That logic thwarted the instant I again catch sight of her.

At this point, I can’t even lie to myself that it’s training alone that keeps me coming back. Day by day, she consumes me a little more with her mystery while giving me bits and pieces of herself—her intelligence, her humor. She even has a warmth anyone who respects her enough and treats her well enough can easily draw upon. A warmth that’s smothered by the hostility and resentment that surrounds her—namely Dom’s.

“Evening, and I’m not here to play,” I say, my tone threatening to betray me in how my seconds-long assessment of her affects me. She’d probably find my lingering gaze endearing and childish if she noticed at all. But she never lets on for a second that she’s aware of my growing fixation because I don’t, at all, let her see it. I do my best to make sure she can’tfeelit, either.

Looks can be felt, and I know this from playing the game myself with my hookups, so I don’t go there with her. Ever.

I would chalk it up to nothing more than a crush, but ironically, her lack of acknowledgment is the only thing currently crushing me.

Because you’re seventeen, you fucking idiot!

And because this simmering attraction growing between us is entirely my own, I’ve been tossing my mental hard-on aside in lieu of the invaluable knowledge she’s bestowing upon me. So far, I’ve been presented with a mind-blowing arsenal of shit I’ve never considered before.

“He’s in his room.” Delphine dismisses me, interrupting my inner musings while pointing in the direction of the hall that leads to all three of their bedrooms. Instead, I draw closer to a fire I have no business warming up to, let alone attempting to play with. Opting to stay near it, I take a few steps closer while leaving myself on the opposite side of the counter, which serves as a partition separating the kitchen from the living room.

A safe distance from her to shield my growing delusion and prolonged humiliation. Knowing good and well that if I ever give her the slightest hint of my growing attraction, I will lose her company.

Though, when I look at Delphine, I don’t see Dom’s aunt or our age difference—not since the day I got my first real look at her. If anything, I see a twenty-something who’s wearing her grandmother’s wardrobe. Her skin fucking glows with youth, her onyx hair silky in look.

In noticing that, I’ve acquired a healthy suspicion that she purposefully tries to mask both her body and beauty.

“You off to work soon?” I ask in a shitty attempt at conversation. Her latest job is working the graveyard shift at a boxing company—one of the only other factories in Triple Falls, aside from Horner Tech, which she quit when Celine and Beau died.

“Non, I’m off tonight.”

I eye the clock on the stove. “So, why are you drinking coffee?”

“Why the questions?”

“Because maybe I want some, and it was my polite way of hinting around to what youhaven’toffered,” I jest, “with your impeccablelackof hosting skills. So, how about it?”

“No,” she replies sharply, barely sparing me a glance. “From this moment forward, you will eat only things which grow from the earth and lean protein. Water to drink. Only water. No drinking or drugs.”

“All right, so no more experimenting with crack. Got it,” I state pointlessly, which earns me a barely perceptible lift of full lips. “Though I can’t help but think this is punishment because I’m winning, General.”

“Non, you are not,” she relays, “we’re still very much at war.”

“I leveled over half your companies last night,” I counter.

“I was waiting for you towatch memake my next move,” she says, walking over to the table, where our battalions are on opposite sides of the line, engaged in our first long-term war. I study the board to see not a soldier out of place and give her a nod. Coffee in one hand, she flicks her fingers with the other.

“Airstrike. Airstrike,” she laughs maniacally while shooting my soldiers to the kitchen floor.

“The hell?” I balk.

“Uh-oh,sniper,” she sing-songs, flicking several more soldiers before glancing over to me with a shrug. “And now you have no soldiers in your right flank.”

“We’ve never done an airstrike. That’s cheating.”

She quirks a dark brow. “And what’s the name of our new game, Tyler?”

The slight purr she uses to draw out my name rolls through me briefly, making me forget the question for a beat. My reaction only further letting me know I need to hook up with Kayley, and soon, so I can again respect myself. The notion of us is ridiculous, even to me.

“Mmm?” Delphine prompts as I search for both the question and answer before squeezing my eyes shut.