Page 54 of The Black Lotus (Fatal Florals Duet #2)

“You’re right, but not today.” I lean into his chest and close my eyes, enjoying the memory of Aunty Tina. She was a light that was stolen too soon, and now that I remember her, I will never forget.

“Do you think she could be the reason you dreamt about me from a young age?” he asks, rubbing circles on my back.

I look up at him as I place my hand on his chest. “It would be just like her to somehow connect us. Maybe we have her to thank for bringing us together.” I quietly laugh, my chest warming at the thought.

“Thank you, Aunt Tina.” Aster says, pulling me onto his lap, I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him as the doorbell rings again, this time for our food.

After we finish our food with the heaviness seeping through the air, I get up and reach my hand out to Aster. “Come on, I have a surprise for us.” He cocks an eyebrow, a tent already growing in his jeans, making me laugh, “Not that kind of surprise.” He frowns. “Yet.”

He grabs my hand, quickly standing. “Where to, my vixen?”

I step in front of him, and drag us out the door, towards my reading room, excitement buzzing in my veins as we quickly walk through the grass.

Before I even bring out the surprise I stashed, we are going to have a heart to heart and if he doesn’t open up, I’ll just have to persuade him to talk.

I am tired of this bottling your feelings bullshit. We don’t do that.

“The surprise is in your reading room?” He looks around the room as we walk in, looking under stuff, on the top shelf he hid my surprise.

Finding nothing he starts to pull the three books to open the kill space and I run in front of him, stretching out my arms. “My surprise is in here, then.” He tries to push me out of the way, but I cover the books he needs to pull.

“Yes, but you can’t have it, not until we talk.” His movements stop, looking down at me as I stare back at him. “Please,” I whisper.

He lets out a deep breath, but steps away from the bookshelf with his hands raised in the air. “I knew this was coming.”

I walk over to the chaise and pat the seat beside me, the butterflies in my stomach flying at full speed. “Does that mean you’re ready to talk?”

“Not being given much of a choice,” he mumbles as he sits next to me.

I grab his face with both hands, pushing his cheeks together. “You always have a choice. I think it’s time though.” I release his face and look away. “I don’t like this wall that has been built between us, since… everything.”

“Okay. Let’s talk.”

My head snaps up to meet his gentle eyes. “Really? You’re serious?”

He cradles my hands in his. “Very. And I’m sorry I built the wall after we promised to never shut the other out. I just…needed time to process before I put this weight on you too.”

“Your problems are my problems, Aster. Your burdens are mine. You are never alone, and I need you to get that in your thick skull.” I tap his head a few times to get my point across. He flinches, rubbing the spot on his head, but smiles. “I love you. Don’t shut me out.”

“I love you, too.” His lips lightly brush mine.

“I was mourning my dad, but never felt that emotion before, so… I shut down.” I sit back and listen as he talks, not wanting to break his courage.

“There have been so many new emotions that I have been experiencing, and I don’t know how to cope with most of them.

” He rakes his fingers through his hair.

“For so long I painted my father as the villain, when he was trying to be a dark knight and save me from Cynthia.” A sad laugh slips past his lips as he frowns.

“After learning the truth, all I wanted was to see my father’s face.

Talk to him one last time. Ask him so many questions to help me see things from his perspective, but…

Now, I’ll never get the chance.” I grab his hand and squeeze it, he brings our joined hands to his lips and kisses the back of mine.

“I miss him, and I’m jealous that Zephira got to speak to him and connect with him in a way I dreamed of for so long. ”

He goes silent after that, his head dropping.

I pull him into my chest, cradling his head as I rub his back.

“We all deal with grief differently, some shut down, some act like it never happened, while others block it out completely.” He looks up at me, so much love filled in his gaze.

“Most are alone. Feel like no one can understand the emotions swirling inside, but that isn’t true.

When a hand reaches out to help you instead of shutting down, grab on and let them help keep you afloat.

” I cup his cheek. “Yes, no one can ever truly understand, but letting that person in a little can make a difference between sinking into the darkness and floating above it.” I wrap my arms around his neck, our mouths inches apart.

“You are not alone, Aster. Let me be your liferaft, like you are mine.

If you don't, you go down, and I'm going down with you.”

Our foreheads rest against the others, his eyes closing as he whispers, “Thank you, Serena.”

This is what we needed. We needed a moment to come back down from all the chaos that interrupted our lives. Lives we barely got to build together. Now that the waters are calm, we can finally have a chance to get to be together. Finally have a chance to connect in the way we were denied.

I slowly get off the chaise after pecking Aster on the lips, ready to give him his surprise.

“Is it time for my surprise?” he asks, scooting to the edge of the chaise.

“It is. I’ll be right back, close your eyes. And no peeking.”

He closes his eyes and I open my kill space retrieving the items and walk back into the library, laying it all at his feet. My hands shake as I lay the final item in the middle. I take a deep breath, sitting on my knees. “Okay. Open your eyes.”

His eyes slowly flutter open, looking at me then the items, a wicked grin splitting his cheeks. “Is this for me or for you?”

I blush. “Both?”

He tackles me, my back smacking against the floor as his hand cups the back of my head. “When did you find that?” He hovers over me, his arms brace on either side of me.

“When you were kidnapped. I was looking through your things and found it. Ever since I saw the drawing, I knew I wanted your art tattooed on me.”

He leans down, his lips pressing firmly against mine, his growing erection rubbing up against me. “Like last time?” he whispers in my ear.

My beast purrs at the thought, and I let out a breathy moan. “Yes.”

He helps me to my feet, collecting everything off the floor as we walk into my kill space. The air feels lighter, the weight that was dragging us down has been tossed, and we are ready for the next step of life.

Starting it with a needle, ink, and spilling blood.