His Feverish Embrace - Celia Kyle Page 0,30
blurted to Ginette, who sat next to her on a bench.
Her friend turned to look at her with an expression that was half horror and half amusement. “Wow, that’s dark. Was your date with Hottie McHotterson really that bad?”
“Ginny, I told you. I don’t want to talk about it.”
Ginette slumped back and sighed. “Shoot, I thought you were finally gonna get laid.”
Heat flooded Rylan’s face as she averted her eyes so her bestie wouldn’t see the truth, but it was too little too late. Ginette’s eyes grew wide, and then she squealed and clapped her hands like a toddler going to the circus for the first time.
“Shh,” Rylan hissed, glancing over to Trystin to make sure he wasn’t within earshot.
Ginette stopped making noise but she still bounced up and down like a demented baby. “C’mon, spill!”
Trystin was happily swinging upside down from the monkey bars, completely oblivious, so Rylan relented. Maybe dumping this steaming pile of a shit show on someone else might ease the tension between her shoulder blades.
“Fine, fine.” She took a deep breath, wondering where to start, but there was really only one place. “Thrett Lacerta, the security specialist from Wildridge?”
Ginny rolled her eyes. “Who? I have no idea who you’re talking about,” she said sarcastically. “Come on, Ry, you’re killing me!”
“Thrett is Trystin’s father.”
Ginny stopped bouncing, stopped blinking, and as far as Rylan could tell, stopped breathing. The only movement was her jaw hitting the dirt between her feet.
“What. The. Actual. Fuck?”
Rylan dropped her gaze to her fidgety hands. “I know.”
“Holy hell, Rylan, why didn’t you tell me? I wouldn’t have made all those jokes if I’d known. I just thought he was some random hottie who wanted to jump your bones. I never imagined…”
“That’s because I was as stunned as you are now when he walked into the office that day. I hadn’t seen him since…since the night Trystin was conceived.”
“Oh shit.” Ginette paled. “You mean he doesn’t know?”
Rylan leaned back and turned her face to the sky. So many hard questions!
“He didn’t, but he sure does now.”
She continued to relay all of the gory details to her best friend, from the moment Thrett had “saved” her from the aggressive frat boy and almost feeling hypnotized by his hazel eyes to discovering the truth about his being a dragon and bolting in the dead of night.
“Damn, that must have freaked you out,” Ginette said, taking Rylan’s hand in hers.
“You have no idea. The trouble was that I really liked him. I mean, really liked him. I was damn near swooning over the guy. I would have paid a fortune to lose my virginity to him. So reckless!”
“I doubt you’ve ever been reckless a day in your life, sweetie,” Ginette said gently.
“I was reckless enough to sleep with Thrett without a condom, that’s for sure.”
Ginny winced. “Everyone sleeps around in college. It’s expected. And…accidents happen. At least your accident turned out perfectly.”
They both looked over to Trystin, who’d moved on to the swings. He and a little girl looked to be having a bit of a competition to see who could swing the highest. The girl was winning.
“It didn’t help that I found out later from my friends that Thrett had a reputation. His nickname was ‘the king of one-night stands.’”
Ginny wrinkled her nose. “Ew.”
“Yeah, that didn’t make me want to track him down, I can tell you that much. And by the time I found out I was pregnant, it was too late. None of my friends knew his last name and I wasn’t entirely sure a guy like that would step up, you know?”
“Do you still think that?”
Rylan shrugged. “I’m not sure. There was some arguing and he left. Haven’t heard from him since. I honestly have no idea how he feels about all of this.”
“What about you? How do you feel?”
Rylan thought it over for a moment. “I’m not sure. I always thought that if I ran into him again, I would make sure to guard my heart. I would not let him in. But now that he’s here, I can’t help myself. It’s like I’m addicted to him. My body aches for him in a way I’ve never experienced before. And just like drugs, I let my resolve slip and now everything is ruined.”
“What do you mean?” Ginette asked, frowning.
“I mean I don’t think he and I can have a romantic relationship, despite how hot the sex is. And trust me, it’s hot. We’re just too different. On top of only being