Revamped!

["Can you update tomorrow?" a wonderful guest asked me last night via a review to which I say, "yes."]

[Sometimes, I think I write all this romantic fluff is because I'm lonely and want a boyfriend. Like I'm not thirsty for one, I just think it'd be nice to have one.] [2020: I wanted to erase this AN but couldn't because it's still kinda true.]

A Thorne in His Side: Part Nine

An empty pizza box later and all Cinder could think of is that she's making out with her boyfriend. Although they've been going out for who knows how long (she doesn't like to keep a calendar), she still has to state to herself that she has a boyfriend and she's kissing him … and she can kiss him all the time. There were no boys for her back in Artemisia so that's why Kai was so special to her.

The way he kisses behind her ear and down her neck.

The way he touches her hair and combs his fingers through, taking out her ponytail.

The way he looks at her with his dark eyes.

Everything.

Kai makes her feel and want to do things she's never felt before. Every part of her is addicted to him. Being with him is like waking up like she's discovering something new and amazing about the world.

Kai is completely under her spell and he can't contain himself around her anymore. Every movement, every touch, every kiss has him enchanted. This is a new experience of lust and passion for him and it's something different. As much as it intrigues him, a small part of him is telling him to be careful, not to get involved with a girl he just found out the truth about; a girl that makes him nervous and uncertain of everything he does or says. But he can't stay away. He won't. Because with his uncertainty, she brings excitement. Her unexpected actions and truths leave him baffled and hungry for more, a better understanding of the mind that is hidden from him. He's falling and he's falling fast. If he doesn't stop now, he doesn't think he'll ever be able to.

-o-

Winter sits on her bed with her pedicure splayed out to dry. During her entire pedicure, she was on the phone with Jacin and till now the call is still going. She has a bag of packaged dried cranberries between her legs that she's been munching on for quite some time. She doesn't mind losing her appetite for dinner.

Jacin Bae: Have you finished unpacking?

"No," Winter responds. "There's one last box in my closet but I think it's full of random linens." Her curiosity suddenly spikes. "Why?"

Jacin Bae: Maybe you have a surprise in that last box.

Excited, Winter squeals a little as she hops off her bed. She makes her way over to her closet, as fast as possible since she has to use her heels to move due to her drying toenails. Winter opens her closet and walks inside, kneeling down on the last box that sits in the corner. She tears it open and digs through the miscellaneous bedsheets and towels until she spots something that shouldn't be there.

Then, her eyes land on a plaid flannel. One of Jacin's plaid flannels. Her heart stops as she holds it up to her face and inhales it in. The shirt has his scent of fresh soap and light body spray. Winter couldn't have felt happier and she's been happy since the day they first met. Daily, she keeps falling for him, even when she didn't think it was possible to be more in love with him than she already is.

"When did this get here?" Winter asks, feeling extremely giddy.

Jacin Bae: While you were packing, I asked one of your cleaning ladies to throw it in somewhere.

"I love it so much." She takes another whiff of it. "You're like a breath of fresh air whenever I see you."

Jacin Bae: Promise me you'll wear the flannel and not keep on smelling it like a creep.

"But it would lose your scent and smell like me."

Jacin Bae: Then mail it back to me and I'll send you another one. That way, we'll have each other's scents and both be creeps whilst rotating. Is that a hashtag relationship goal, or what?

Winter cringes a little with a laugh, especially since he would never say that. "Hashtag definitely."

-o-

After their long day, Wolf drives back to his place with Scarlet. Once he lets her in his house, he locks the front door behind him and looks at his girl with an excited smile. His girl, Scarlet Benoit, just got inked and Although he was scared, it was so worth it.

"Let me see it," Wolf says. "My ma isn't here now."

Wolf expects Scarlet to lift the bottom of her shirt up and show the tattoo just underneath her breast, but she just rips off her whole shirt in one swift motion. Wolf stops breathing as he stares at Scarlet standing in front of him in a bra and her leggings and Scarlet's snarky smile means that she knows how starstruck he is at the moment.

She turns to the side (as if he wasn't already hypnotized) and she lifts the bottom of her bra's cup just a bit to show the tattoo better. It's currently protected by a transparent gauze and elastic tape but that didn't hinder how much of a work of art it was. Who would've thought that a small tomato cluster on the vine about the size of her thumb and forefinger if they were to make an L.

Scarlet can barely breathe out of her gratitude as she continues to gaze at the tattoo. Her skin is currently red, raw, and aching but the beauty of those tomatoes has her reeled in. That masterpiece on her skin steals her breath and fills her chest with a swelling confidence.

"Aces, I love you," Wolf tells her in one exhale.

Scarlet's blush deepens and when their eyes meet, she feels a spark explode inside her, lighting her up all within. It was one thing to know that her boyfriend loves her and it was so much better to hear him say it himself.

"Really?" Scarlet questions sarcastically. "I couldn't tell."

Wolf lets out a small laugh as Scarlet steps closer to him. She grips the hem of his shirt with her fingertips as she looks up at him longingly.

"Let me see yours," Scarlet begs.

Wolf takes off his shirt and Scarlet's first sight is his abs and his scars from his past life. There was something ruggedly charming about those. He twists his waist to show her the howling wolf tattoo that she's seen before but in the dark. Wolf also lifts his right arm (subtly showing off his buff bicep) and on the underpart is a tattoo of a barcode but instead of the usual combination of letter and numbers, it's his last name representing that he belongs to his family (like how the howling wolf tattoo used to signify his allegiance with the gang life).

Scarlet traces the barcode tattoo with her fingertip in fascination. All his tattoos represent loyalty and in a way, hers does as well.

She looks up and Wolf and she wants to run her fingers through his glossy and inviting hair. She has never felt so attracted to anyone before, and she's a little shocked at how much she wants him to hold her.

Without knowing, her body just moves on its own and she kisses him. It starts out as forceful and aggressive as her tongue explores every inch of his mouth. It feels like the world is spinning slowly. Slowly, the kiss turns sweeter, as if his lips were coated in sugar. He makes it hard for her to control herself.

"You have a new freckle," Wolf says as he holds her by the dips of her curves.

"There's no way you could possibly know that," she replies in disbelief.

She has too many freckles to conceal and soften. They're basically a map of the stars.

Wolf leans in closer and whispers, "If I could kiss every freckle, I would."

Scarlet smirks. "I have freckles everywhere."

Wolf smirks and that's when he takes charge. He picks her up and pushes her with her back on the door and attacks her with his lips. The hardness of his body, his devilish smile against Scarlet's lips - she has to have him.

The thoughts are whirling around her head. His bare chest is warm and she could feel his heartbeat raise when she kisses his neck. With him, she almost forgets everything that happened before the tattoo.

Scarlet feels unstoppable. She couldn't wait. She just wants Wolf now.

-o-

Thorne forcibly parts from his kiss with Kate, wondering what the stars just happened. Kate looks at him waiting for him to say something but he has no words. Kate Fallow aka his ex-sweetheart with an emphasis on the ex preposition just kissed him and had a face that accepted that moment as normal when it was far from it. Why was she so calm when he was internally freaking out?

"Don't you feel that spark we once had?" Kate asks, lightly touching the nook of his elbow.

Thorne's throat is as dry as a desert as he takes his arm back. "Had, Kate, had. Past tense. I don't feel anything with you anymore."

His chest heaves heavily as he waits for her to say something back but she only tilts her head a little, keeping her eyes squared on him. When Kate first returned, being close to her was no longer the same because of how it ended years ago. He thought he missed her, longed for her, and he did for a while but now, she doesn't do it for him anymore. That light he felt years ago for her was only a lightbulb. It was small and useful for the moment, but artificial and temporary. Thorne needed heat, sparks, flames…

Kate Fallow may have knocked him off his feet but Crescent Moon Darnel showed him that he can soar in the sky. Did it really take that kiss for him to realize that?

"You're right…" Thorne tells her. "Yes, I left and you became a new person but we had to. Change is learning. Change is growth. Change is beautiful and powerful and necessary. I was fine with you and now, I'm fantastic without you. That's the point of evolution."

Kate smirks proudly. "Look at you outsmarting me."

Thorne looks at her weirdly, feeling a smile form from the corners of his mouth. "Hold on, you don't have feelings for me anymore? You just wanted to talk about my feelings for you."

Kate smirks. "And just like your math homework, you still needed my help. My parents and I came back to pay our respects to Kai's father. I thought I could find you easily and maybe catch up a little, but when I noticed you avoiding me like the plague, I knew you needed serious attention."

"Maybe I just didn't want to see you."

"If you really moved on, you would be fine with even a small hello or a wave."

Thorne huffs out a laugh in defeat as she shakes his head. "Aces, Fallow … you got me this time."

"Like fractions did." Her smile fades a little. "I was scared that how we ended prevented you from moving on and now I can see that this closure means you're fine - or by your words, fantastic. You're not helping yourself with Cress by being here with me."

"How did you know it was Cress? Did someone blab?"

"I heard it with my impeccable hearing." She smiles again. "But tell me the truth, Thorne, do you feel that spark when you kiss her?"

"I've only kissed her twice and felt an entire fireworks show both times."

She nudges him a little, not believing that Thorne only kissed her once. She places a hand on his shoulder.

"Get her, Thorne," Kate encourages, glancing up at the dark clouds in the sky for a quick second, "before the storm hits you."

Thorne feels a new rush of adrenaline flowing through his veins. He hugs Kate one more before running back to his car and starting the engine. He peeks at his phone and sees that his messages to Cress haven't been answered so he doesn't know if she's ignored him or didn't read them yet. He pulls onto the road and turns on the windshield wipes to swish the oncoming raindrops.

There may be dark clouds in the sky but he's going out to find his Crescent Moon.

[Talk about a plot twist I came up with last minute. I didn't want Kate to be that ex-who-cheated-and-wants-you-back type. Too cliché for me.

The fact that this is also chapter 69 wasn't planned.]