"I saw you," Nora said. "I saw the way your eyes changed."
Hayden took in a deep breath, "Kiara escaped."
"Oh..." Nora frowned. "I didn't know she was in the palace."
"Yeah," Hayden nodded. "She just had her baby."
"What?" Nora gasped, gripping Hayden's forearms as her face lit up. "When?"
"Just a few days ago," Hayden smiled. "It's a beautiful baby girl. Lila."
"I didn't know," Nora frowned for a second before her face lit up once more. "I love babies!"
Hayden's smile grew wider from her excitement. He began to notice how close they stood with each other. Her legs were pressed against his thighs and her hips were glued to him. Hayden's arms looked around Nora with his wrists crossed over one another behind her lower back. There was barely any space between the two for a single breath to pass.
Noticing the way their bodies held each other, Hayden's mind began to wander down very inappropriate streets. He swallowed and cleared his throat in hopes of distracting his mind. He needed to start thinking about something soon before his body betrayed him and Nora got uncomfortable.
Think, think, think, Hayden mentally hit his head. World hunger, dead animals, deforestation, air pollution....
"How's Killian?" Nora kept talking. "Is he wrapped around Lila's little finger? How's Tobias?"
"They're fine," Hayden nodded. "Very excited to have someone new to spoil."
"That didn't really go well the first time around," Nora frowned. "Anyways....why are we here again?"
"Because Kiara escaped,"Hayden said. "Well, the evil Kiara."
"But what does that have to do with us?" Nora asked in confusion. "Or with me?"
"I don't want you to be alone if she comes looking for you."
"Why would she come looking for me?"
"I don't know, Nora."
"Well, don't get angry with me."
"I'm not angry with you!" Hayden's eyes widened.
"You look angry," Nora frowned. "You doing the head thing."
"What head thing?" Hayden arched a brow.
"When you're angry or frustrated your head moves a lot," Nora pointed out. "Like you have a cramp in your neck."
"It....doesn't," Hayden stilled.
"Now you're self conscious," Nora laughed. "It's not a bad thing! Everyone has ticks."
"It's not a tick."
"A nervous habit."
"I'm not nervous."
"Scared?"
"What would I be afraid of?"
"I don't know," Nora said. "Nothing in these great big woods that scare you."
"Maybe I'm scared of you."
"Me?" Nora laughed.
"Yeah," Hayden scanned her eyes. "They say fear is the unknown, right?"
"But you know me," Nora's voice lowered as she began to realize the bubble they were entrapped in.
"I don't know you, Nora," Hayden spread his palm over her back and pushed her a little closer to himself. "Not in the ways I want to."
Ch. 29 Thunder
Start from the beginning
