Chapter 08.

POV; Boe Krayt.

It hadn’t exactly gone how I’d hoped it would go. I’d hoped that my parents would have at least given us a blessing but warned us not to throw our affection to one another in their faces. And then I’d have expected my father to have my mother sit with me and work out a schedule for Soren to see Finnick that would work for all of us as if he were some play toy that had to be shared. But instead, I was back in Leenan’s car with no idea where we were going. We hadn’t said a word to each other when we left my parents’ plantation and honestly, I didn’t know what to say to my husband who was refused to be my husband before it was too late.
  I let out a heavy sigh through my nose that was quieter than I thought it would be as I rested my head back into the leather of the passengers seat.
“We can go back, if you want to work things out?”
“It would be pointless.” I answered honestly to my husband with a soft shake side to side of my head. “He’s not going to listen to reason.” If there was one thing I knew for sure about my father, and I knew because I was exactly the same in this one thing, it was that once his mind was made up there’d be no changing him. It was an Aveyard thing to be so stubborn.
It fell silent again around us for a long moment. We passed several traffic lights, beating them before signalling red before Leenan’s hand dropped from the steering wheel, fell down to his side and took hold of mine. “Boe, I’m sorry.”
I turned my tilted back head over to look at the side of my husbands face as he drove, tugging in my brows as I tightened my fingers around his hand. “You’re sorry?”
“Maybe we should have waited, should have really done things properly. I wouldn’t have put you in this situation if we had of been … Traditional.”
Though in response to his words I smiled and remained silent, internally I was laughing. My husband? I had the sweetest one to date. Again, I sighed. “I’m not.” I brought my head up and twisted my body around in my seat to be able to face Leenan while he drove and glanced aside to me, just briefly with an arched light brow. “I’m not!” And finally, I laughed out loud which scored me a smile crossing those plump lips of his. “I’m not! I’m not sorry for marrying you without telling anyone, without waiting for a blessing from my dad.” Why was I still laughing? To stop myself but to hold my growing smile in place, I lifted my husbands joined hand with mine to my mouth and pressed a kiss to his cold skin, letting the cool feeling linger over my lips. “I love you. And whether Amadeo likes that or not, I would have married you regardless.”
He slid his eyes to me again, but there was something there in the glint from the streetlight we passed that I hadn’t seen there in a while. “Even if I hadn’t asked?”
He was teasing me! The ever so serious, humble Leenan was teasing me! I laughed again behind his hand, my eyes squinting from my growing grin. “Oh, I think you would have asked me.”
“Because no one can resist an Aveyard?”
I brought my free hand forward from my lap to shove at my husband’s side. “I’m a Krayt, I’ll have you know!” Now he laughed at me. With me. The hand he held of mine, my hand that held his came to his mouth where he gently kissed the back of my fingers.
“As if I’d ever forget that, Mrs Krayt.”
I bit my lip when he called me by new name; Mrs, as in being his wife. I had a strong gut feeling that that was something that probably wouldn’t sink in for a long, long time. Without thinking -well, I did think of how dangerous my actions could have been, just a little too late to second think it-, I shifted in my seat to turn Leenan’s face with my left hand to face me, closing the space between our lips.

I’d given Soren the time he’d asked for with Finnick. So far it was the hardest thing I’d ever done; not seeing my baby for three days, only leaving Soren messages to let him know I’d be back for Finnick on Monday. Leenan had decided against going back to Trinity Gate. Everyone would have showed up the morning after my parents gathering and I personally wasn’t in the best place to start answering questions of a family disagreement. So going back to the apartment in town that Leenan had once shared with Soren was a perfect idea. And without sounding as though I’d been a little side tracked, I had kept my mind busy with the idea of living alone with my husband, with being a wife; living as husband and wife and doing just what it is husbands and wife’s do in their newly found alone time.
   I was panting, catching my breath with Leenan’s head against my bare chest as I sieved my fingers through the back of his hair, pulling my lower lip between my teeth as I attempted to hold back my growing smile. It was without a doubt that he’d always bring me such pleasure and such a thing in the mornings after just opening my eyes wasn’t something I was going to refuse. Especially when it was something I’d started. My smile grew wide enough to pull my lips tightly, though still without any teeth as I ran the fingers of my left hand down the back of my husband’s neck and along his right shoulder. I dropped my head from being just above his between my breasts to find the skin of his face just by his ear where I pressed a single kiss. “Good morning.”
I felt him smiling back at me before I pulled my face back enough to see it; a smile of his I was getting used to seeing, covering his features from eyes to mouth with what seemed to be real, genuine happiness. That had been something I’d failed to find in Leenan Krayt for a very long time. “Very good morning, Mrs Krayt.”
Now my teeth did show through my smile, those words never did fail to have me grinning like a Cheshire cat. Still straddling his waist with my thighs against the outer side of his, I brought up both my hands from the back of his neck and right shoulder to cup his jaw, tilting his head back enough to find his lips with mine and steal a long kiss from him, our mouths entwining in the same way as our bodies. My skin prickled under his touch at my back, from my waist up to my shoulder blades as he fully returned my kiss before I couldn’t stop the soft giggle push from my mouth into his. “What time is it?” I had to ask against his lips, as reluctant as ever to break our lips apart, to have this moment between us broken, stopped. I knew there’d be more; there’d be so many more given we’d promised each other forever. But in these moments I’d ever get enough.
I let his face win the fight against my hands to keep his mouth with mine, trailing my lips down the side of his jaw to keep the taste of him fresh against my tongue. He’d tasted sweeter than sugar since we’d come here, since we’d had our time alone with no interruptions so far. It was a taste I was swallowing when he grunted his reply to me. “Just gone ten.”
Ten in the morning and I wanted my husband for a second time. Was this really how all newlyweds spent their time together in the early days? I giggled again against the skin at his neck, bowing my body to be able to follow his throat down to his collarbone. “And we have no plans for today?” When I said no plans, of course I meant other than doing what I’d been doing before now and using Leenan’s phone to find little things we could buy or make ourselves for the wedding we still wanted. With my father there or not, I’d give Leenan as my husband what he’d asked, what we’d promised and we’d have a wedding ceremony for our family. A groan found my ear as I brought my face back up from Leenan’s collarbone, surely enough bringing a smile of pride over my features in knowing it was me who made those noises come to the surface, who made him harden all over again between my legs as if we’d never had our first round.
“I’m pretty sure Cami said she’d call over.” His voice was hoarse and I could tell he was doing all he could to keep himself together. Not that I understood why. But I could work with this.
“We’re going to talk about your sister?” I brought my face back up from his neck, sliding my hands back to his jaw before I kissed his lips again, my smile giving way to a playful smirk that he wouldn’t see. Thankfully. He chuckled at me, at what I said, quietly and into my mouth as he kissed me. Both his hands slid from around my back at my shoulder blades to my front, both his palms covering my breasts that were a little too small to fit in his hands perfectly. I pressed my mouth harder to his, sliding my hands from his jaw to the back of his head where I curled my fingers into the back of his blonde tips of hair and the best feeling in the world in that moment was feeling him smile against me.
His left hand slid up to the back of my neck, his kiss slowed against my mouth, in turn slowing mine. And in that moment with my husband, our bodies connected; I lost myself.

 

   He was right. Camila turned up around noon, which was perfect given I’d had time to shower and freshen up before she arrived. Leenan was inviting his sister inside his apartment that I’d tried to air out before she made it to the small living area, pulling me upright from pushing open a window to let out the smell of sex. Turning to see my best friend, my husband’s sister, my sister in law that no one could know about, God I’d missed her. There was something different when I held her this time, when I had my arms around her neck because she was inevitably taller than I was, her arms around my waist though we weren’t quite as close as we were before.
   “Why didn’t you tell anyone? Me, of all people?”
I dropped my eyes from Leenan after he asked his sister the question, before looking back to Cami as he did in waiting for an answer. There had been an underlying reason for Cami coming to visit after all. Usually she would have waited for us to go back to Trinity Gate, she was never desperate to see anyone she hadn’t seen for a month or so. It confused me why Cami wouldn’t have told her brother of all people of what she’d gotten herself into. They’d been all each other had had for God knows how many years, other than Soren and Juno who’d became like family inside of the coven anyway. If it surprised me that she’d kept something like this secret from him, God knows how Leenan felt.
“I didn’t want you to be disappointed… It’s not something I ever wanted, I always promised myself I’d do better … Promised mom…”
I frowned. I could never recall Camila Krayt being so … Down in herself, about herself.
“Having a baby isn’t even the whole story. It’s a baby, I mean; we all know what babies need and how they are. I’ll be pregnant a few months and we’ll have a new addition to our family.” She was beginning to ramble at us. At Leenan. To herself? “I guess it means if the two of you get married in the next few weeks I won’t be able to get into a decent dress. I have no idea how much longer I’m going to be able to stay in heels without my ankles completely exploding! The craving for sea food won’t go away and Juno hates sea food.” Wow, was there anything harder for a pregnant woman than not having someone to go eat sea food with? Good old Cami.
“Cami?” Leenan spoke, but given his sister was still rambling to herself of her issues of being pregnant, she was oblivious. Turning his head to me with an arch of his right brow, I couldn’t help but smile at him, hiding my inward giggle behind my smile before averting my eyes back to the blonde woman. “Cami … Okay, Camila?”
Leenan raising his voice was the cause of the woman’s voice falling silent and having her large round blue eyes lifting from the full cup of water in her hands up to his face. “Who’s the father?”
For the first time in my life of knowing Camila Krayt, today was the first time I’d watched all emotion leave her face, all colour drain from her cheeks and her body to tense from head to toe. Together Leenan and I waited. And we waited a little longer. And still got nothing from the blonde witch. “Do I know him?”
“Is he sticking around?” I had no idea why I even asked that.
But in answer to the both of us, I guess, Cami shook her head slowly. I turned to look at Leenan who looked at me at the same time, before looking back to his sister with his own frown covering his face. I moved a hand to rest against his thigh. They’d be okay. He’d be okay. And we’d make sure Cami was okay.
“Cami, who knows?”
The blonde witch took a slow breath in through her parted lips before exhaling and taking a long but slow drink form her glass. “You’re the first I’ve come to. I have no one else; I have nowhere else to go…”
“Cami,” I was smiling, giggling even as I spoke, though it wasn’t funny and I wasn’t finding this amusing. Confused, I guess. “You have Trinity Gate, just like the rest of us. We’re a family there…”
“Lenora would never let me back.”
My smile disappeared, the bubbliness in my tone faded as I fell completely silent with my brows creasing together in confusion. “M-My mom?” My hand loosened on Leenan’s leg. “What does this have to do with my mom?”
“She’d never forgive me. And I wouldn’t blame her. Who would forgive me, it’s disgusting…” It was the first time I’d seen Camila Krayt cry. Ever.
“Cami?” I wanted to be sympathetic for her, for my best friend and remind her that no matter what everything was going to be okay. She was pregnant, it wasn’t the end of the world whether the father stuck around or not, or whether she even knew him! But … I didn’t understand what this had to do with my mother. “Cami, can you tell me what this has to do with my mom? I’m  really don’t understand.” But of course the first thought running through my mind was my father. Cami had come to us pregnant and hadn’t been able to tell anyone else. And then she claimed my mom would never forgive her. God, my chest hurt. Amadeo wouldn’t… would he? I felt eyes on me from my side and looking up to my husband my expression must have said it all. But I was more than surprised when Leenan asked his question which clarified I wasn’t the only one with such a thought in my mind.
“Camila … Amadeo?”
The witch snapped her head up from looking into her glass of water, her own brows now tugged in thought she wasn’t frowning, she didn’t seem sad at that. “What?!” She looked to me and back to her brother. “Amadeo, Leenan, really?” Using her right hand to push her hanging locks from her face to sit back away from her face she scoffed at us, shaking her head side to side. “He may have fucked a few members of the coven but I’ve never been one of them.”
I mimicked my sister in laws expression now, holding my hands together with my fingers entwined between my legs. “So if it’s not Amadeo, there’s no reason my mom would be mad at you, or not forgive you.”
“You wouldn’t understand!” I couldn’t tell if she was meant to be just yelling at us, or sobbing. “Neither of you would understand, you wouldn’t get it! … You’d hate me the same she will.”
Before I’d really noticed Camila was in fact sobbing real tears, Leenan was already on his knees at her legs, both his hands against her thighs and his head bowed to be able to see his sisters face. And my chest hurt again. “Camila, we can’t understand what you don’t tell us. We’ll get through this, through all of this, whatever it is. I’m sure we’ve been through worse and we still came out at the other end.”
My chest ached. And thought I was in a room of my family I felt as though I were intruding on a private moment between brother and sister. Whatever this was Leenan was right, together they’d be able to get through it. Because they had each other and over time that was all they seemed to have ever needed. And so, leaving my husband and my unknown sister in law alone in the living room, I made way to the kitchen for my own glass of water and to call on someone I’d always need.