Chapter 86\u00a0<\/p>\n
Athena\u2019s POV\u00a0<\/p>\n
My eyes fluttered open to find myself still wrapped in Tristan\u2019s arms. He was fast sleep, his face relaxed in a way I hadn\u2019t seen since I came back. The tension lines around his eyes had smoothed out, and his breathing was deep and ven.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I studied his features in the morning light filtering through my bedroom curtains He looked like someone who hadn\u2019t slept this peacefully in forever.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There was something younger about his face when he wasn\u2019t carrying the weight of everyone else\u2019s problems on his shoulders.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Memories of our night together flooded back, making my cheeks burn hot with embarrassment and something else I didn\u2019t want to name.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If I\u2019d thought our first time together five years ago was incredible, last night had been something else entirely.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was Mind\u2013blowing and breathtaking, literally because I lost my breath multiple times.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I couldn\u2019t believe how thoroughly he\u2019d satisfied me, how many times he\u2019d brought me to heights I\u2019d never experienced before.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With Daxon, pleasure had always been something I had to find for myself afterward, alone and ashamed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But Tristan had made me feel like I was the center of his universe, like nothing else mattered except making sure\u00a0<\/p>\n
felt good.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The memory made my body tingle all over again, but it also filled me with a sadness so deep it felt like drowning.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Because it would never happen again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The thought settled on my chest, making it hard to breathe. Whatever had happened last night was a mistake, a moment of weakness brought on by\u00a0<\/p>\n
nightmares and something else.\u00a0<\/p>\n
42%\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tristan would never have kissed me under normal circumstances. He\u2019d only done it to wake me up from my bad dream.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I knew he\u2019d regret it when he woke up. I was actually shocked to see him still here, still holding me like I was something precious instead of something he\u00a0<\/p>\n
needed to escape from.\u00a0<\/p>\n
3\u00a0<\/p>\n
Maybe he hadn\u2019t left because he didn\u2019t want to hurt my feelings. Maybe he was trying to spare me the humiliation of waking up alone after giving myself to\u00a0<\/p>\n
him so completely.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t want his pity. I couldn\u2019t bear it if he started blaming himself again, treating me like I was fragile and broken. I wasn\u2019t sure I could survive another\u00a0<\/p>\n
conversation where he explained why we couldn\u2019t be together.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I carefully untangle myself from his arms, trying not to wince even though my body felt like I\u2019d been thoroughly and wonderfully used.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Every muscle ached in the best possible way, reminding me of everything we\u2019d done together.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I needed to use the bathroom and figure out how I was going to handle this situation. How do you face someone the morning after you\u2019ve crossed every line\u00a0<\/p>\n
you swore you\u2019d never cross?\u00a0<\/p>\n
I slipped into the bathroom and stared at my reflection in the mirror. I looked lit someone who\u2019d been thoroughly satisfied, which I absolutely had been.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My lips were still swollen from his kisses, and there were small marks on my neck where he\u2019d been particularly enthusiastic.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
19:37 Tue, Jan 6 T\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 86\u00a0<\/p>\n
TIRA\u00a0<\/p>\n
42%\u00a0<\/p>\n
I splashed cold water on my face and brushed my teeth, trying to wash away the ste of regret that was starting to build in my mouth. By the time I\u2019d showered and gotten dressed, Tristan had already left my room.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Today was Saturday, which meant neither of us had any excuse to leave the hous The garage was running smoothly enough that we didn\u2019t need to be there every day unless something urgent came up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I needed to act like an adult about this. We had to talk it out, clear the air, and move forward without making things weird between us. We lived in the same house, for crying out loud. I couldn\u2019t hide in my room forever.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I went downstairs to the kitchen and decided to make breakfast. Cooking always chlmed my nerves, gave my hands something to do while my mind tried to sort through complicated emotions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was halfway through preparing scotch eggs when I felt Tristan\u2019s presence behing me. My entire body tensed, but I forced myself to take a deep breath before turning to face him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGood morning,\u201d he said, his voice coming out husky and deep in a way that made my knees weak.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Memories Drifted Into Soft Silence by Kyx Frost 86 Chapter 86\u00a0 Athena\u2019s POV\u00a0 My eyes fluttered open to find myself […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-second-gear-of-love-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26243\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}