Lights, Camera, Omega - Page 101

“Well, there goes any shred of hope I had that it was just an ugly rumor.” He drinks his entire glass of wine in a single gulp before serving himself once more.

I feel jittery and too hot as I give voice to the creeping fear that has been gripping me since Daphne left my atelier earlier this afternoon.

“I might be a little less anxious if Magnus had bonded me after he bonded Daphne—like he promised when I joined the pack… Not to mention Daphne.”

Sol turns his stormy gray eyes on me—a deep understanding mirrored within them.

“Yeah… I feel you. I might not be so worried if Daphne had asked me to bond her.” Sol swishes the pale wine around his glass, his knees bouncing with nervous energy.

The silence spreads between us—a gulf that neither of us is sure we can traverse. So, we hold the space together in silence. Sol sipping his wine while I continue to whittle away at dinner.

We can be alone, together.

Julian and I truly embodied the phrase ‘misery loves company’ earlier this evening. The pair of us moping around the kitchen after the news of Daphne’s imminent departure for the opposite side of the globe took the metaphorical wind out of our sails.

After nearly an hour of watching Julian—making tiny exploding pearls of mango compote for a space age looking dessert, spectating Julian’s intricate napkin origami, and his meticulous knife work, cutting mandarin orange supremes for the most beautiful salad I’ve ever seen—I decide to take the rest of the bottle of pinot gris, along with one of the large spliff cones Magnus keeps in the marble box on the kitchen table, out to the deck with me.

The calming sound of the crashing waves helps to soothe my frayed nerves as I busy myself with making a fire in the outdoor chiminea on the far side of the porch. Below the cantilever deck, the tide rushes in, licking at the pinky white sands and cement stanchions beneath.

I’ve gotten the fire going good and strong, another full glass of pinot gris in one hand and the lit spliff in the other, when Cosmo appears from behind one of the massive sheet glass sliding doors.

“Oh, boy,” he snorts a laugh as he drops into the seat beside me.

“The one hit wonder over here bogarting the joint.” He pinches the spliff out of my fingers and takes a drag himself before he stamps it out—leaving it temporarily abandoned in the soapstone ashtray on the side table.

“It’s not the end of the world Sol. We’ve all been on location separately before,” Cosmo begins—though I can tell from the unsteady tone in his voice that even he doesn’t believe what he’s saying. Not really.

“Easy for you to say, you’ve already bonded.”

The words are out of my mouth before I can think better of them. Even to my own ears, I sound like a petulant child, but there it is. The crux of my issue.

Cosmo flinches slightly, turning away from me to face the fire—and behind it the rolling sea; the unsaid words flooding into the silence that follows my admission.

Daphne and I haven’t bonded yet, and we aren’t the only ones in the pack…

“Have you told her how you feel?” Cosmo returns his gaze to me, his eyes softly focused on mine.

“No.” My cheeks heat.

It’s not lost on me that this is exactly the kind of question I’d ask Cosmo when giving him shit for not being able to express his feelings.

Cosmo blows out a long breath.

“You know, the wisest man I’ve ever met told me something really important once.” He reaches for my hand, folding it inside his.

“He said, ‘Cosmo, how the hell is anyone ever going to be able to get close to you if you keep yourself closed off all the time? You need to share yourself, your real thoughts and feelings. If you never let anyone in, it gets awfully lonely.’” Cosmo does his best impression of me, and I can’t help but be a little flattered.

“Sounds like a real smart guy,” I scoff a laugh, giving his hand a good, hard squeeze.

“Handsome as the devil too.” Cosmo winks at me.

“And you haven’t introduced us? Greedy much?” I huff imperiously before the pair of us dissolve into some much needed laughter.

Magnus hasn’t come home yet from the Panopticon Pictures lot, Julian is in his atelier, with dinner ready to be served at a moment’s notice, and Cosmo and I are still cuddled up in front of the fire when Ursula’s beat up station wagon pulls into the gravel drive, dropping Daphne back at home.

She teeters up the stairs, a little tipsy from a few celebratory libations with the girls.

“Congratulations, Sunshine.” I do my best to offer the most genuine support I can while my anxiety simmers just below the surface.